1660.  I860. 

A 


Bl-CENTENNIAL  OrATION 


WEST  BEOOKFIELD,  JULY  4,  1860. 


AT    THE    CELEBRATION   OP  THE 


TWO    HUNDREDTH    ANNIVEESAEY 


OF   THE    SETTLEMENT    OF   THE 


TOWN  OF  BROOKFIELD. 


BY    LYMAN   WHITING,   D.D. 


A  ITATIVB  OP  NOBXn  BBOOKFIELD. 


WEST  BEOOKFIELD: 
PRINTED    BY   THOMAS    MOREY. 

1869. 

IC.f 


INHABITANTS    NOW    LIVING 


AND  WHO   MAY   HEREAFTER   DWELL    IN    THE   PRECINCTS   OF   THE   ANCIENT 


QUABOAG,    "ALIJAS   BBOOKEFEILD," 


HIS  OWN   LOVED   BIRTH-PLACE, 


THE  AUTHOR 


DEDICATES  THIS  LABORIOUS  BUT  LOVED  TASK. 


LYMAN  WHITING. 


ORATION. 


This  is  a  day  for  salutations.  A  family,  scattered  through 
a  nation  have  come  home.  Faces  and  names  are  recalled, 
and  by-gone  scenes  connected  with  them  spring  up  in  irrepres- 
sible, glad  surprises.  Half-forgotten  acquaintances  of  youth, 
like  vines  after  gleaning,  hiding  here  and  there  a  cluster  over- 
looked, but  ripened  to  peculiar  sweetness,  are  found  by  each 
•one  of  us.  The  ancient  hills,  the  old  rocks  and  trees  smile 
their  recognitions.  The  bright  brooks  chatter  their  greetings 
from  grassy  banks,  and  old  homesteads,  a  few, —  and  new  ones, 
many, —  offer  winning  welcomes  from  opened  gate  and  door. 
A  glad  accost  beams  alike  from  the  face  of  nature  and  of  all 
the  dwellers  in  this  endeared  town-home. 

"  Welcome  home  !  "  you  say.  '.'  Glad  to  come  home  !  "  we 
reply,  for 

"  Joyfully  dear  is  the  homeward  track, 
If  we  are  but  sure  of  a  welcome  back." 

The  Third  Jubilee,  since  English  hands  and  hearts  made 
these  fields,  hills,  and  valleys  the  scenes  of  love's  great  care  and 
toil,  has  come.      We,  the   heirs  of  the  costly  estate,  assemble  to 


clierisli  and  rejoice  in  it.  It  is  fitting  that  we  exchange  hearty 
salutations. 

This  done,  the  serious  heed  of  history  must  be  assumed, 
and  reverently  we  take  up  the  tasks  of  the  hour.  Beginning, 
like  curious  children,  at  the  mother's  knee,  we  ask  first,  Hoio 
this  came  to  he  a  town  ?  What  led  our  fathers  here  ?  What 
fixed  their  choice  for  this  as  their  abode  ?  Why  was  Brookjield 
settled  ? 

These  questions  will  find  replies  in  part  further  back  than  record 
or  tradition  reaches.  In  that  Infinite  Counsel  which  tunis  the 
hearts  of  men  as  rivers  of  water  are  turned,  is  a  cause  under- 
lying all  others ;  and  though  grand  visible  laws  ma}^  disclose 
the  methods,  and  men  may  seem  to  be  the  only  actors,  we 
really  do  little  in  stating  the  truth  of  any  history,  though  of  just 
a  single  town  like  this,  until  we  discern  a  higher  power  and 
wisdom,  and  plans  shaped  by  both  than  any  man  or  class 
of  men  have  devised.  God  is  in  history,  —  in  that  of  a  town- 
ship as  distinctly  as  in  that  of  an  empire. 

The  great  and  terrible  forces  impelling  our  forefathers  to  the 
New  World,  you  all  well  know.  The  impulses  which  scattered 
the  children  of  the  first  emigrants,  and  the  new-come  emigra- 
tions after  the  earliest,  from  the  first  homes  along  the  sea- 
coast, —  are  not  as  familiar.  We,  looking  at  their  case,  a 
slender  chain  of  settlements  clinging  to  the  sea-side,  as  if  need- 
ing land  and  sea  both,  to  supply  daily  food  ;  or  as  if,  tarrying  on 
the  threshold  of  tlie  continent,  so  they  could  more  readily  flee 
back,  if  they  could  not  stay  here,  —  naturally  ask.  Why  do 
not  those  coming  after,  in  equal  prudence,  stay  with  this  line 
of  plantations,  where  certain  sustenance,  and  all  the  comforts  — 
scanty  and  poor,  indeed  —  which  the  new  world  had,  were 
gathered  ?  Instead  of  this,  from  all  the  sea-side  settlements, 
the  impulse  for  a  westward  and  inland  migration  carried  nearly 


all  of  the  second  generation  from  the  half-furnished  and  half- 
protected  homes  of  their  fathers,  into  the  deep  wilderness.  It  is 
a  constant  question  in  perusing  the  storv  of  that  generation, 
M'hat  shaped  these  paths  of  most  daring,  and  seemingly  need- 
less removals  ?  No  doubt  the  marked  Saxon  love  of  land,  the 
craving  for  soil,  in  which  traditional  aristocracy,  dignity,  and 
weight  of  character  united  ;  and  the  common  pride  of  possession 
and  sense  of  independence,  pushed  the  young  men  of  those 
times  into  the  wild  lands  where  occupancy  almost  gave  posses- 
sion. Large  estates  were  princely.  House  lots,  in  the  mari- 
time settlements,  were  not  broad  enough  for  youth  with  the 
blood  and  birth  of  Puritan  Pilgrim  stirring  them.  The  choice 
of  Quaboag  by  the  inhabitants  of  Ipswich,  who  then,  as  we 
should  think,  had  ten  times  more  land  than  they  could  take  care 
of,  well  shows  this. 

The  first  selection  was  of  lands  along  the  sea-board,  as  be- 
fore mentioned,  where  united  the  advantages  of  production  and 
transport,  and  the  twofold  resources  for  sustenance, — land  and 
sea.  The  broad  river,  and  its  rich  alluvial  basin,  with  meadows 
so  friendly  to  tillage  ;  the  stream  serving  as  an  highway,  and 
the  adjacent  highlands  offering  fuel,  pasturage  and  buildmg 
material  was  the  second  choice.  The  third  selection,  was  the 
regions  of  hills  and  ponds  with  connecting  rivers  bordered  by 
facile  meadows,  lying  between.  Many  of  the  advantages  of 
sea-shore  and  river  valleys  united  in  these.  The  historical  law  of 
the  early  settlement  was  formed  essentially  of  these  conditions. 
Up  and  down  the  New  England  borders,  the  rugged  sea-coast 
first  wins  the  strangers  from  the  parent  land  ;  their  sons,  by  a 
daring  plunge,  reach  the  fair  Connecticut,  and  speedily  the  pros- 
perous settlements  adorn  the  queenly  valley ;  and  then,  between 


6 

these  extremities  in  locality,  —  if  not  in  qualities  of  character, 
others  settled  upon  the  midway  summits,  nestling  among  these 
matchless  hills  and  valleys,  lying  like  a  basket  of  pomegran- 
ates, in  an  area  of  about  fifty  miles,  a  family  of  fruitful  hills, 
exquisitely  rounded,  and  gemmed  with  clusters  of  ponds,  as  fair 
in  beauty  as  the  hills  are  noble  in  form. 

I  wonder  not  that  the  river  valley  first  won  the  companies 
of  land-fanciers,  and  those  searching  for  pleasing  homes.  The 
Queen  of  that  valley  was,  as  now,  fair  to  look  upon.  Her 
waving  vestments  of  meadow  verdures,  her  stately  coronets  of 
hills  and  mountains,  were  enough  to  captivate  her  Saxon  suitors 
at  a  glance.  Nor  need  we  deny  that  among  them  were  many 
of  the  choicest  spirits  who  then  awaited  the  call  of  fields  un- 
explored and  of  lands  unmeasured.  But  that  some,  on  their 
journeys  thither,  discerned  the  less  shoM^y  and  less  winning 
charms  of  Quaboag  —  the  land  of  hills  and  lakes  —  sturdier  in 
aspect,  and  so  summoning  higher  valor  in  the  settler,  need  not 
surprise  us. 

Tidings  of  this  very  marked  region  doubtless  found  their 
way  to  the  sea-side  settlements  through  the  explorers  and  lead- 
ers of  the  emigrations  to  the  "  River,"  as  its  region  was  then 
termed  ;  and  when  the  first  wave  had  spent  itself  at  Hartford, 
Windsor,  Springfield  and  Hadley,  the  next  one  paused  among 
the  singularly  charming  swells  and  meadows  of  Brookfield. 

For  fifteen  years  the  rugged  path  between  Dorchester  and 
Cambridge,  and  the  settlements  made  from  them  on  the  River 
had  been  kept  open  by  the  infrequent  journeyings  between 
these  extremes  of  colonial  settlement.  But  the  land-hunger 
craved  fresh  spaces.  On  the  31st  of  May  1660,  in  the  second 
year  of  the  Colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  is  found  the  head- 
ing in  the  margin,  "  Ipsuich  new  plantacon." 


"  In  alls''  to  tlie  peticon  of  seuerall  the  inhabitants  of  Ipswich, 
this  Court  juclo;eth  it  meete  to  graunt  the  petitioners  sixe  miles 
square,  or  so  much  land  as  shall  be  contejned  in  such  a  compasse, 
in  a  place  nere  Quobogg  Ponds,  provided  they  haue  twenty 
famllyes  there  resident  w^'^in  three  yeeres,  &  that  they  haue  an 
able  minister  setled  there  w"^in  the  sajd  terme,  such  as  this 
Court  shall  approove,  and  that  they  make  due  provission  in 
some  way  or  other  for  the  future,  either  by  setting  a  part  of 
land,  or  w*  else  shall  be  thought  meete  for  the  continuance  of 
the  ministry  amongst  them  ;  and  that  if  they  shall  faile  in  any 
of  the  particculars  aboue  mentioned,  this  graunt  of  the  Court 
to  be  voyd  &  of  none  effect." 

What  did  the  Ipswich  people  want  of  Podunk  lands,  one 
hundred  miles  from  their  homes  ?  The  passion  for  land,  as 
before  named,  is  partly  the  answer.  Their  petition  to  the 
General  Court  begins  — 

"  Forasmuch  as  it  is  found  by  Dayly  experience  that  the 
common  Lands  of  this  Towne  (Ipswich)  are  overburdened  by 
the  multij)lying  dwelling  houses  contrary  to  the  true  intent  and 
meaning  of  the  first  Inhabitants  in  their  granting  of  house  lotts 
and  other  lands  to  such  as  came  amongst  them,  to  the  end  such 
inconvenience  may  be  prevented  "  — 

From  the  last  run  of  Western  land  fever  back  to  earliest  an- 
nals, the  symptoms  and  forms  are  much  the  same.  A  curious 
poem,  dated  twelve  years  before  this  grant,  entitled  "  Good 
News  from  New  England,"  so  admirably  recites  the  modes  of 
land  trade  at  that  day,  that  I  will  place  a  portion  of  it  here  : 

Delightfull  to  the  eye  dirl  lye  the  woods  and  medowes  greene, 

The  paths  untrod  by  man  and  beast,  both  smooth  and  clenly  seene. 
Most  men  unlandcd  till  this  time,  for  large  lands  Eages  sue, 

Had  not  restraint  knockt  of  their  hands,  too  big  their  fermes  had  grew. 
Give  eare  I  pray  unto  the  praise  set  on  a  new  Plantation, 

First  for  the  medow  sirs  says  one,  I  have  found  such  a  station. 
Where  grass  doth  gi-ow  as  high  as  I,  round  stalkes  and  vc^ry  thicke. 

No  hassocks  but  a  bottom  plain,  Carts  cannot  therein  stick. 


8 

Boatos  may  come  up  unto  our  doors,  the  Creeks  convenient  lye. 

Fish  plenty  taken  in  them  are,  plains  plowable  hard  by. 
No  bush  nor  roots  to  hinder  them,  yet  stately  timber  is, 

In  every  swamp,  yea  uplands  too,  most  clobberd  trees  I  wis. 
Clay  there  for  bricke  and  tile,  pot-earth  with  ease,  and  store. 

Some  men  suppose  black  lead  is  there,  silver  and  copper  o're. 
Carry  but  guns,  and  wild  fowie  will  be  brought  unto  our  dishes. 

Venison  and  Moose  you  there  may  catch  according  to  youx  wishes. 
All  creatures  thrive  exceeding  well.  Goats,  Swine,  and  sheep  for  meat, 

Horse,  Cows,  and  Calves  encrease  as  well,  ther's  store  of  English  wheatu 
Five,  seven,  or  nine  old  Planters  doe  take  up  their  station  first, 

Whose  property  is  not  to  share  unto  themselves  the  worst. 
Their  Cottages  like  Crows  nests  built,  new  commers  goods  attain, 

For  mens  accommodation  sake,  they  truck  their  seats  for  gaine. 
Come  buy  my  house,  here  you  may  have,  much  medow  at  youre  dore, 

'T  will  be  dearer  if  you  stay  till,  the  land  be  planted  o're. 
See  you  that  garden-plat  inclos'd,  Pumkins  there  hundreds  are, 

Parsnips  and  roots,  with  Cabiges,  grow  in  great  plenty  there. 
Lay  out  an  hundred  pound  or  two,  you  shall  have  such  a  seat. 

When  you  have  planted  but  one  crop,  you  cannot  want  for  meate. 
This  praise  doth  make  the  purchaser  his  gold  and  silver  throw. 

Into  his  hand  for  house  and  land  that  yet  he  did  not  know. 
Unseen,  and  yet  [so]  sudden  bought,  when  once  the  sale  was  ended. 

His  purchase  makes  him  misse  of  more,  with  gifts  he's  not  befriended 
One  he  hath  friends  to  praise  his  parts,  his  lot  shall  larger  be. 

For  usefull  men  are  highly  priz'd,  such  shall  sell  two  or  three. 
Insatiate  minds  for  medow,  and  best  land  they  could  attain, 

Hath  caused  Townes,  land  lay  by  lot,  I  wish  it  were  not  vaine. 

—Mass.  Hist.  Coll.  Vol.  I.  s.  4. 

It  is  possible  a  cabin  or  two  may  have  sheltered  some  daring 
pioneer  before  this  grant,  but  it  is  quite  doubtful.  It  was  really 
a  land  speculation.  Room  for  cattle,  and  founding  a  new  plan- 
tation —  a  Western  Reserve  to  the  emigrants  of  that  day,  who 
would  escape  the  tedious  and  perilous  addition  of  the  journey 
to  the  Illinois,  —  the  Connecticut  valley. 

It  proved  a  rare  resolution  indeed,  under  any  impulse,  to  tarry 
in  this  settlement.  It  was  a  perilous  solitude.  Thirty  miles 
eastward  was  Lancaster,  as  far  westward,  Springfield,  and  these 
not  only  the  nearest  but  the  only  neighbors  ;  and  strong  as  were 
the  affections  between  the  settlements,  how  long  in  coming  must 
succor  be  in  the  day  of  trouble,  through  that  houseless,  roadless, 


almost  patliless  wilderness.  Rivers,  swamps,  dens  of  wild  beasts, 
and  haunts  of  men  more  terrible,  divided  these  feeble  bands. 
What  a  race  of  Greathearts  led  and  defended  the  ancestries 
of  these  now  wide-spread  families  ! 

It  was  a  true  heroism  to  tarry  a  night  here,  for  yonder  quiet 
stream  creeping  down  the  valley,  like  a  silver  thread,  into  the 
Wiekaboag,  would  guide  the  settler  to  the  "  chief  seat  "  of  the 
Nipmucs, —  but  a  morning's  run  distant.  This  tribe  ranged 
more  territory,  and  were  more  numerous  than  any  of  the  New 
England  Indians  except  the  Narragansetts.  Elliot,  ten  years 
before,  spoke  of  Nipmuck  as  "  A  great  country  lying  between 
Connectacot  and  the  Massachusetts,  called  Nipnet,  where  there 
be  many  Indians  dispersed."  The  terrible  pestilence  had,  how- 
ever, crippled  the  tribe  into  some  subjection  to  their  neighbors 
who  hud  escaped  the  scourge.  In  a  letter  of  William  Pyn- 
chon  to  G  )V.  Dudley,  dated  May  1648,  about  some  murderers 
in  the  region,  he  says,  "  There  are  several  small  factions  of 
Quaboag,  and  in  all  near  places  there  are  other  small  factions. 
No  one  faction  doth  rule  all."  Gookin,  a  choice  authority  in 
one  class  of  Indian  antiquities,  counts  Quaboag  as  one  of  the 
ten  villages  of  Christian  converts  within  the  Nipmuck  coun- 
try. "  Their  character  was  more  gentle  and  peaceful  than 
generally  belongs  to  savage  life."  If  they  were  praying  Indians, 
or  if  some  of  them  had  received  the  gospel,  this  was  doubtless 
true  ;  but  factions  are  always  quarrelsome,  and  often  unite  only 
to  prevail  over  a  common  enemy,  as  our  fathers  sorrowfully  learn- 
ed from  these. 

The  settlement  was  not  at  first  a  favorite  to  emigrants.  The 
grant  failed  to  win  settlers  enough  to  meet  the  conditions  of 
tenure. 

Perhaps  a  grant  soon  after  [1664]  made  in  behalf  of  the  In- 
dians of  Putikoo-kupog  "  nere  (^uoboag,"  a  plantation  not  ex- 


10 

ccedino;  "  fower  tliousand  acres  and  that  it  prejudice  not  Ips- 
wich orant"  —  dehxyed  somewhat  the  settling  here.  Plainly- 
some  "  prejudice "  turned  the  restless  emigrants  of  that  day 
from  here,  for  May  15,  16G7,  an  extremely  discouraging  record 
is  made  of  the  place  by  the  General  Court. 

"  This  Court,  hauing  pen^sed  the  grant  which  the  General! 
Court  made  anno  1(3(30  to  the  first  vndertakers  for  that  place 
doe  fiude  that.  1.  By  their  non  observance  of  the  condition  of 
their  grant,  the  same  is  altogether  voyd,  &  that  now  the  order- 
ing &  disj)osing  thereof  is  wholly  in  this  Courts  power. 

2.  Considering  that  there  is  already  at  Quabauge  about  sixe 
or  seven  familyes,  &  that  the  place  may  be  capable  of  receiving 
many  more,  this  Court  will  readily  grant  them  the  liberty  of  a 
touneship  when  they  shall  be  in  a  ffit  capacity. 

3.  In  the  meane  time  this  Court  appoints  Cap*  John  Pin- 
chon,  John  Aires,  W™  Prichard,  Richard  Coy,  &  John  Young- 
low,  or  any  three  of  them,  whereof  Cap'  Pinchon  to  be  one  of 
the  three,  who  shall  haue  power  to  admitt  inhabitants,  grant 
lands,  &  to  order  all  the  prudentiall  affayres  of  the  place  in  all 
respects,  vntill  it  shall  appeare  that  the  place  shall  be  so  far 
setled  w*^^  able  men  as  that  this  Court  may  judge  meete  to  give 
them  the  full  liberty  of  a  touneship  according  to  lawe. 

4.  Because  the  inhabitants  of  Ipswich  made  the  first  motion 
for  that  plantation,  &  some  of  them  haue  binn  at  chai'ges  al)out 
it,  although  by  their  remisse  prosecution  they  haue  now  lost  all 
their  right,  yet,  such  of  them  as  shall  setle  tliei'e  by  midsummer 
come  twelue  moneth,  they  shall  haue  an  interest  in  the  lands 
there  in  proportion  w**^  others  ;  but  if  by  that  time  they  shall 
not  be  there  setled,  they  shall  then  loose  their  lands,  and  all 
their  charges  w***  they  haue  been  at  vpon  y**  place. 

5.  They  are  to  take  care  for  the  getting  and  maynteyning  of 
a  godly  minister  among  them,  and  that  no  evill  persons,  ene- 
mjes  to  the  lawe  of  this  comon  weale  in  judgment  or  practise, 
be  receaued  as  inhabitants. 

6.  For  i)romoting  of  the  aforesajd  plantation,  and  incourage- 


11 

ment  thereof,  this  Court  doeth  now  grant  that  plantation  seven 
yeares  freedom  from  all  publick  rates  and  taxes  to  the  country, 
provided  those  inhabitants  of  Ipswich  w*^'^  intend  to  inhabitants 
of  Ipsivich  w'^^  jntend  to  inhabit  at  Quabauge  by  mid-sunnner 
come  twelue  month  doe  engage  to  give  security  to  the  abouesajd 
comittee,  w'Mn  three  moneths  after  the  date  hereof,  that  they 
will  performe  accordingly,  that  so  others  that  would  setle  there 
may  not  be  hindred." 

This  legislative  rebuke  and  free  handling  of  the  projectors 
of  the  settlement  was  not  without  effect.  They  doubtless  be- 
stirred themselves  to  meet  the  new  condition,  and  the  commit- 
tee who  were  mostly  on  the  "  River "  were  no  doubt  much 
wiser  managers  of  affairs  than  the  Ipswich  projectors.  The 
growth  was  such  that  in  1673,  the  Court  entrusted  them  with 
a  town  name  and  estate. 

"  In  ans'"  to  the  petition  of  the  inhabitants  of  Quobauge,  the 
Court  judgeth  it  meete  to  grant  their  request,  i.  e.  the  liberty 
&  priuiledge  of  a  touneship,  and  that  tne  name  thereof  be 
Brookfeild,  provided  they  divide  not  the  whole  lands  of  the 
touneship  till  they  be  forty  or  fiuety  familyes ;  in  the  mean  t'me 
that  their  dividings  one  to  another  exceede  not  two  hundred 
acres  to  any  present  inhabitant." 

I  am  at  a  loss  to  account  for  the  language  in  the  3d  section 
of  the  Act  of  1677,  appointing  a  committee  "  untill  it  shall  ap- 
peare  that  the  place  shall  be  so  farr  setled  w*''  able  men  as  that 
the  Court  may  judge  meete  to  give  them  the  full  liberty  of  a 
touneship  according  to  law,"  —  and  then  reappointing  the  com- 
mittee in  the  act  of  erection,  and  again  doing  it  nineteen  years 
after,  (1692)  some  of  the  same  persons  holding  the  office  41 
years,  or  until  1718.  Were  there  men  fond  of  place  and  of 
profitable  offices  among  even  our  fathers  ?  The  inhabitants  did 
not  begin  to  hold  meetings,  or  to  act  with  the  committee,  until 
the  beginning  of  the  next  century  (1700). 


12 

The  River  settlors  must  have  entered  into  a  partnership  with 
the  Ipswich  planters,  or  else  a  most  admirable  amity  and  care 
for  the  common  good  prevailed,  for  by  a  deed  dated  10th  No- 
vember 1665,  Ensign  Thomas  Cooper  of  Springfield  bought  the 
land  of  measurement  indefinite  if  not  limitless,  "  together  with  the 
trees,  waters,  stones,  profits,  commodities  and  advantages  there- 
of, for  himself  and  for  the  present  planters  of  Quaboag,"  of  one 
Shattoockquis  for  300  fathom  of  wampum.  Who  directed  this 
purchase  or  why  it  was  made  is  not  apparent.  Mr.  Cooper  in 
his  deed  of  transfer  given  after  the  act  incorporating  the  town 
was  passed,  declares  that  his  "  acting  in  the  premises  was  only 
in  the  behalf  of,  and  for  the  use  and  behoof  of  the  inhabitants 
of  Quaboag,"  etc.  But  the  Court  had  already  granted  over  and 
over  the  lands.  Who  paid  the  wampum, —  the  proprietors,  or  the 
settlers,  or  Mr.  Cooper  ?  Was  this  purchase  merely  to  pacify 
the  Indians,  and  justify  the  occupancy  of  the  land  to  the  exclu- 
sion of  the  local  tribes  ?  If  it  satisfied  them,  a  mercantile  jus- 
tice was  done  by  it,  but  that  they  did  not  understand  it  as  an 
agreement  to  abandon  these  favorite  haunts,  is  plain  from  their 
staying,  just  as  they  had  done,  on  the  soil. 

This  transfer  (no  price  is  named)  was  made  to  John  Warner, 
Richard  Coye  and  William  Pritchard,  —  "  to  the  inhabitants  of 
Brookfield  aforesaid,  and  to  their  successors  and  their  heirs  for- 
ever." This  deed  is  recorded  in  Hampshire  County,  subscribed 
December  19, 1673,  by  Lieutenant  Thomas  Cooper.  Two  years 
after  this  act  of  General  Court,  a  meeting  house  is  found  in 
possession  of  the  "  twenty  families,"  and  although  no  minister  is 
discerned  among  them,  yet  the  erection  of  the  house  of  worship 
assures  us  that  the  word  of  God  was  then  preached  and  his 
praises  sung  amid  the  wearisome  solitude. 

But  their  day  of  trial  was  at  liand.  It  was  truly  a  terrible 
day  to  meet.     King  Philip  selected  either  the  Indians  dwelling 


13 

here  as  special  confederates,  or  this  lonely  settlement  for  an  early 
victim  to  his  exterminating  conspiracy.  Periiaps  the  two 
united  in  his  wary  plot.  Let  us  trace  carefully  this  chapter  of 
woe. 

Philip,  sachem  of  Mt.  Hope,  —  the  landmark  of  the  region  of 
the  now  beautiful  town  of  Bristol,  R.  I.,  between  the  charming 
waters  of  Mount  Hope  and  Narragansett  Bays,  —  perpetuated 
his  father  Massasoit's  temper  toward  the  English,  and  especially 
toward  their  favorite  theme  —  religion.  He  "rejected  with  dis- 
dain "  the  proposal  to  have  the  apostle  Eliot  preach.  Mather 
says,  "  once,  taking  hold  of  the  apostle's  coat,  he  said,  '  I  care 
no  more  for  the  gospel  than  for  that  button  '  "  Yet  Gookin 
testifies  that  he  had  heard  expressions  from  Philip  showing  that 
his  conscience  was  moved.  We  hope  it  was  so,  indeed  that  may 
account  in  part  for  the  intense  fury  of  his  movements.  I 
strongly  suspect  some  yet  untold  and  secret  enmity  like  a  hidden 
brand,  infuriated  this  subtle  chieftain.  So  large  and  deadly  a 
plan  demanded  impulses  to  frame  and  execute  it  unknown  to  the 
savage  in  his  usual  warfare.  In  eager  hopefulness,  I  have  con- 
sidered the  plea  of  reluctant  consent,  and  of  tender  movings 
toward  the  English,  —  put  in  for  him,  —  and  that  he  was  more 
the  executor  than  i\\Q  projector  of  the  bloody  work.  May  it 
finally  be  found  to  be  so. 

But  an  enthusiasm  in  enmity,  that  could  blend  and  inflame 
all  the  "  factions  "  and  scattered  families  of  savages  who  joined 
with  Philij),  had  no  doubtful  or  irresolute  original  projector. 

The  part  that  bloody  Jesuit,  Baron  Castine, —  with  his  troops 
of  Indian  wives  and  Popish  priests, —  had  in  it,  was  no  doubt  a 
Jesuit's  part  against  Protestantism.  Certain  it  is  the  Indians 
were  trained  in  the  use  of  firearms,  and  surprised  the  English 
by  their  supply  of  them  and  skill  in  using  them,  before  it  was 
known  that,  from  tliut  French  nobleman's  castle  on   the   Penub- 


14 

scot  river,  tlioso  deadly  missiles  were  freely  furnished  to  the 
savacres  to  be  used  aoainst  the  Eiicrlish.  But  if  we  cannot  un- 
veil  the  terrible  irn})ulse  moving  this  extirpating  sachem,  his 
terrible  deeds  written  in  the  blood  of  our  fathers  and  mothers, 
and  echoing  in  shrieks  and  sighs  to  our  day,  commend  the  annal- 
ist to  fidelity  of  record. 

Suggestions  of  a  wide-spread  confederacy  against  the  English 
had  been  dropped  here  and  there,  awaking  the  settlers  to  pru- 
dent concern,  if  not  to  watchfulness. 

In  the  beginning  of  April,  Waban,  the  principal  ruler  of  the 
praying  Indians  living  at  Natic,  came  to  one  of  the  magistrates 
on  purpose,  and  informed  him  that  "  he  had  ground  to  fear  that 
Sachem  Philip  and  other  Indians,  his  confederates,  intended 
some  mischief  shortly  to  the  English,  and  Christian  Indians." 
In  May  he  repeated  the  warning.  "  Others  of  the  Christian 
Indians  did  speake  the  same,  and  that  when  the  woods  were 
grown  thick  with  green  trees  "  the  work  would  begin.  These 
warnings  proved  true,  for  in  mid  July  (14th)  four  or  five  men 
were  suddenly  attacked  and  killed  in  Mendon.  This  startled 
the  Massachusetts  settlements,  and  put  the  government  into  ear- 
nest action.  "  Bloud  was  never  shed  in  Massachusetts  in  a  way 
of  hostility  before  this  day,"  says  Mather.  This  deed  is  ascribed 
to  Matoonus  —  "a  grave  and  sober  Indian  appointed  by  Gookin 
a  constable  of  Pakachoag  "  (part  of  Worcester  and  Ward,  now 
Auburn.)  His  son  four  years  before  had  been  executed  for  the 
murder  of  an  Englishman,  and  his  "  head  set  up  on  a  pole"  — 
a  fearful  sting  to  Indian  vindictiveness, — and  this  slaughter  is 
claimed  to  have  been  the  father's  revenge  for  that  aggravated 
justice.  The  tidings  got  to  Boston  "  next  day  at  Lecture  time, 
in  the  midst  of  the  Sermon,"  and  consternation  spread  with 
them. 

A    few  days  after,  Philip  narrowly  escaped    from   Pocasset 


15 

swamp,  and  witli  a  few  chiefs  reached  the  Nipmuck  country, 
everywhere  stirring  the  Indians  to  thirst  for  English  Wood. 
The  government  also,  knowing  the  consequences  of  the  In- 
dians hereabouts  uniting  in  such  a  strife,  but  not  knowing  that 
Philip  had  preceded  them,  sent  Ephraim  Curtis,  whom  Lincoln 
styles  "  the  first  settler  of  Worcester,"  —  to  observe  and  confirm 
all  friendly  disposition  among  them.  On  the  24th  of  July  he 
had  an  interview  with  four  of  their  sachems  here,  they 
promising  to  continue  in  peace.  They  would  make  a  new  treaty 
to  that  effect.  To  make  sure  of  these  good  omens,  the  govern- 
ment very  promptly  sent  Capt.  Edward  Hutchinson  as  an  am- 
bassador to  secure  the  promised  fidelity. 

It  was  a  wise  selection  on  the  ground  of  much  friendly  ac- 
quaintance with  these  capricious  and  treacherous  neighbors. 
Capt.  Thomas  Wheeler  commanding  "  twenty  men  or  more," 
as  escorts,  with  three  christian  Indians,  to  help  as  guides  and 
interpreters,  attended  him.  They  set  out  from  Cambridge,  28th 
July.  "  Passing,"  says  one  "  the  forsaken  wigwams  of  the 
Savages  who  had  fled  before  to  concentrate  power  for  a  heavy 
blow  at  Brookfield,"  which  they  "  reached  Lord's  day  Aug.  1st. 
about  noon,"  and  not  remembering  to  hallow  the  day  accord- 
ing to  the  commandment,  sent  at  once  four  men  to  inform 
the  Indians  of  their  errand ;  not  any  harm  to  them,  but 
a  message  from  the  Honored  Governor  and  Council,  desiring 
the  promised  league  for  peace. 

The  Indians  met  these  men  with  great  uproar,  and  "  an  hun- 
dred and  fifty  fighting  men  "  gathered  about  them.  "  The 
young  men  amongst  them  were  stout  in  their  speeches,  and  sur- 
ly in  their  carriage." 

After  brief  parley,  "  some  of  the  chief  Sachems  "  promised 
to  meet  the  messenoers  the  next  morninji  "  about  8  of  the  clock 
upon  a  plain  within  three  miles  of  Brookfield."     Some  of  these 


16 

Indians  know  Capt.  Hutchinson  personally,  having  worked  on 
his  farm.  They  "  would  speak  with  none  but  Capt.  H.  him- 
self." 

The  suspicious  appearances  "  did  much  discourage  divers  of 
the  company,"  says  Wheeler,  but  Hutchinson  feeling,  no 
doubt,  the  great  urgency  of  the  case  and  his  personal  stake 
in  the  success  of  his  mission,  and  being  also  persuaded  by  the 
over  confidence  of  the  Brookfield  men,  resolved  to  go  out  to  meet 
them.  Early  on  that  sorrowful  morning, —  Monday,  Aug.  2d., 
as  we  picture  the  scene,  anxious  countenances  and  few  words, 
and  silent  preparations  marked  the  hour.  Hutchinson,  thoughtfid, 
inquisitive,  foreboding,  is  in  consultation  much  of  the  time.  The 
little  band  of  two  captains  and  twenty  soldiers,  with  guns  and 
pistols,  and  uniform,  the  three  Indian  guides,  —  a  great  sight 
in  the  lonely  Settlement,  —  and  "  three  of  the  principal  inhabi- 
tants of  that  town  marched." 

It  must  have  been  a  morning  of  bodeful  gloom,  especially 
to  the  women  and  children,  and  to  the  troops  also,  as  watchfully 
they  descended  yon  hill-sides,  and  filed  into  the  thick  wood, 
hiding  their  path  from  those  left  behind.  They  came  to  the 
spot  agreed  on.  Not  an  Indian  was  there.  Former  suspicions 
strengthen.  They  gather  in  a  circle,  and  in  low  undertone  in- 
quire of  each  other,  what  shall  be  done  ?  (Indian  sentries  no 
doubt  all  the  time  were  watching  them.)  The  former  argu- 
ments are  gone  over, —  a  false  issue  was  put  upon  this  lack  of  In- 
dian faith,  and  the  three  Brookfield  men  strongly  urged 
their  good  will,  especially  pleading  that  David,  a  great  friend  to 
the  English,  was  one  of  the  chief  sachems. 

It  was  a  solemn  halt.  The  order  to  march,  tremulous  and 
half  stifled  by  the  dense  thicket  is  given,  and  in  bodeful  silence 
they  advance  "  towards  a  swamp  where  the  Indians  then  were." 
It  is  such  a  thicket  that  they  can  march  only  in  a  single  file. 


17 

"  About  sixty  or  seventy  rods  "  are  thus  tlireacled,  when  a  sharp 
whoop  pierces  the  silence  —  a  score  of  muskets  flash  and  roar, 
—  arrows  whizz,  and  the  thicket  is  instantly  alive  with  murder- 
ous savages.  Yells  and  war-cries  terrify  man  and  horse. 
Tomahawks  gleam,  —  guns  blaze,  painted  warriors  spring  like 
tigers  from  lurking  places,  and  the  terrors  of  an  Indian  onset 
fill  the  gloomy  defile,  —  and,  alas  the  result !  Eight  white  men 
reel  and  groan  in  mortal  agony.  The  three  Brookfield  men  are 
among  the  fallen.  They  are  Sergeant  John  Ayres,  Sergeant 
Joseph  Pritchard,  and  Corporal  John  Coye  ;  also  Phillips  of 
Boston,  Farley  of  Billerica,  Coleborn  of  Chelmsford,  Smedly 
of  Concord,  and  Hapgood  of  Sudbury.  Five  others  were 
wounded,  among  them  both  the  captains,  Hutchinson  and 
Wheeler,  and  his  son  Thomas.  Flight  was  their  onl}^  hope. 
One  of  the  christian  Indians  warned  Wheeler,  now  chief  in 
command,  not  to  go  back  the  way  they  came,  as  it  was  In- 
dian strategy  to  throng  the  path  of  retreat,  with  their 
surest  marksman,  when  'twas  the  same  as  that  of  approach. 
This  counsel,  and  the  adroit  guidance  by  the  same  Indian,  through 
a  long  circuit  from  the  valley,  probably  saved  the  remainder. 
The  only  prisoner  captured  by  the  Indians,  was  one  of  the  three 
guides,  a  christian  Indian  named  George.  Capt.  Wheeler  bad- 
ly wounded,  was  rescued  by  his  intrepid  son,  who  with  a  frac- 
tured arm,  helped  his  father  from  his  wounded  horse  to  mount 
his  own  ;  and  tiien  catching  another,  whose  rider  had  been 
killed,  achieved  thus  their  escape. 

The  scene  of  this  bloody  ambush  cannot  be  fixed  with  cer- 
tainty. A  recent  inspection  with  Wheeler's  narrative  in  hand 
however,  quite  assures  me  that  tradition  rightly  points  to  the 
defile  from  the  head  of  Wickaboag  pond,  crossing  the  present 
town  line  into  New  Braintree.  Nature  seldom  builds  a  better 
trap  for  the  use  of  the  Indian  warrior  than  is  fjund  there.      The 


18 

local  foatnrcs  visible  now,  tamed  as  they  are  by  clearing  and 
tillage,  meet  the  conditions  of  the  narrative  very  fully.  The 
deep  winding  valley,  multiplying  by  its  crooks  the  shelters  for 
an  ambuscade ;  its  round  isolated  hills,  —  as  good  as  so  many 
breastwoi-ks  to  these  forest  marksmen,  —  the  adjacent  summits 
rising  tier  above  tier,  so  that  those  posted  on  them  could  shoot 
over  the  heads  of  those  below,  upon  the  rictims  in  the  valley  ; 
and  all  overlooking  the  movements  of  the  troops  on  the  banks 
of  the  brook,  and  over  all  these  spread  the  net-work  of  woods, 
underbush,  crags  and  broken  ledge ;  and  that  gorge  equals  in 
available  facilities  for  an  Indian  ambuscade  any  spot  ever  ex- 
amined. As  it  now  lies,  softened  by  the  culture  of  nearly 
two  centuries,  and  relieved  of  what  must  have  been  its  bodeful 
gloom  and  hideous  grandeur,  it  is  a  rare  scene  for  art,  offer- 
ing uncommon  combinations  of  quiet  force  and  rude  grace- 
fulness, with  aspects  well  sustaming  the  tragic  gloom  which  the 
history  so  painfully  requires.  , , 

I  cannot  but  trust  that  many  a  homestead  here,  and  of  emi- 
grant sons  and  daughters,  will  be  adorned  with  careful  pictures 
of  it,  before  another  centennial  day  shall  recall  the  bloody  story 
which  must  forever  thrill  the  descendants  of  the  victims  who 
perished  there. 

The  smitten  bleeding  troops,  pale  and  spent,  at  last  reach  the 
houses  on  the  hill-top  probably  in  rnid-afternoon.  The  anxious 
families  soon  learn  the  terrible  tidings.  But  panic  did  not  be- 
come helpless  despair.  Into  one  of  those  scanty  dwellings, 
soldiers,  women  and  children  fly,  screaming  in  their  terror. 
Mothers  snatch  their  babes  from  the  cradles  and  little  ones  cling 
to  older  ones,  and  leaving  their  little  all,  precious  because  so 
little,  flee  to  the  selected  house.  A  few  timbers  and  boards  are 
hastily  set  about  the  walls  outside,  and  feather  beds  are  hung 
up  on  the  inside.     Lieut.  Curtis  and   Henry  Young  are   posted 


19 

off  for  help.  The  savages  meet  them.  They  turn  in  retreat. 
The  victors  incensed  by  the  mutual  discovery  chase  them  back, 
and  in  noisy  fury  beset  the  little  fortress.  It  must  have  been 
an  awful  hour  to  the  beleaguered  inmates,  cut  of  from  all  hope 
of  succor  and  ignorant  of  the  numbers  of  the  blood-thirsty 
throng  outside.  All  hope  must  at  first  have  died  within  them. 
But  God  was  their  helper.  After  the  first  storm  of  shot,  there 
was  a  check.  Only  Henry  Young,  looking  from  the  garret 
window,  was  stnick  by  a  bullet.  He  died  two  days  after.  The 
same  afternoon  a  son  of  "  Sergeant  Prichard,"  (who  was  left 
among  the  slain  of  the  morning,)  was  intercepted,  returning  to 
his  father's  house  "  to  fetch  more  goods  out  of  it"  and  cruelly 
slain.  As  the  sun  went  down,  house  after  house  is  seen  in 
flames.  The  Indians  pillage  and  then  burn  them.  What  a 
night  was  that !  The  poor  wounded  men,  weak  H'om  loss  of 
blood  and  their  fearful  retreat,  are  stretched  on  the  floor.  Wo- 
men, pale  and  haggard,  crouch  where  they  can,  to  avoid  the  shot 
which  came  "  amongst  us  like  hail."  Children,  hiuigry  and 
frightened,  cling  to  mothers  as  helpless  as  themselves.  Seventy- 
five  persons  are  crowded  into  not  more  than  four  small  rooms, 
and  "  very  meanly  provided  of  clothing,  or  furnished  with  pro- 
visions." Think  of  that  sun-setting !  of  the  tears  and  moans  in 
that  rude  house !  Thirty  miles  from  any  other  dwelling  of 
white  men,  and  not  a  foot  can  cross  the  door-sill  but  to  meet  a 
bullet  or  the  tomahawk  ! 

Were  the  wives  and  children  of  Ayres,  Pritchard  and  Coye 
there  ?  Hear  them  beg  of  the  soldiers  for  a  word  about  their 
slaughtered  husbands  and  fathers !  Did  they  see  them  fall  ? 
hear  any  last  words  from  them  ?  Did  the  Indians  use  the 
scalping-knife  ;  and  what  would  they  do  with  the  dead  bodies  ? 
Oh,  could  they  look  once  more  on  those  loved  faces,  and 
smooth  the  turf  over  their  manirled  forms  !     lias  Mrs.  Pritchard 


20 

looked  throao;li  tlie  little  window,  and  seen  that  head  set  upon  a 
pole  Just  by  the  door  of  her  house,  —  widow  she  now  is.  Does 
she  know  it  is  the  head  of  her  son  slain  just  now,  which  his 
murderers  after  "  kicking  it  about  like  a  foot-ball,  set  it  up  be- 
fore the  door  of  his  father's  house  in  our  sicrht." 

Our  fathers  and   mothers  were  then   purchasing  for  us  these 
lands  and  homes  !     Do  we  keep  in  mind  the  price  paid  ? 

All  night  says  Wheeler  "  they  did  roar  against  us  like  so 
many  wild  bulls,"  till  the  rising  of  the  moon  near  morning,  they 
got  hay  and  like  combustible  matter,  and  set  it  on  fire,  near  a 
corner  of  the  house.  It  was  daring  work  to  go  out  and  quench 
it.  Two  men  were  hit  while  doing  it.  The  gallant  Curtis 
again  attempts  to  elude  the  sentries  and  get  to  Marlboro'  for  help. 
The  ammunition  was  lessening,  and  the  Indians  <rrowinji  fu- 
rious  at  the  resistance  they  meet.  He  goes  a  little  way,  but 
finding  the  foe  so  numerous  is  obliged  to  return.  How  their 
hearts  siiik  as  he  calls  for  admission  at  the  barred  door.  Hope 
seems  to  die  in  them.  But  toward  morning,  touched  perhaps 
by  some  woman's  or  little  child's  persuasion,  he  tries  a  third 
time,  and  on  hands  and  knees  "  was  fain  to  creep  for  some  space 
of  ground,"  and  so  passed  the  tired  and  less  wakeful  Indians, 
and  "  though  very  much  sjient  and  ready  to  faint  by  reason  of 
want  of  sleep  before  he  went  from  us,  and  his  sore  travel  night 
and  day  in  that  hot  season  "  —  he  got  safely  to  Marlboro'  and 
from  thence  to  Boston.  But  their  God  had  counsels  for  deliv- 
erance little  thought  of  by  them.  Unlooked  for  helpers  were 
on  the  way  for  their  relief.  Some  emigrants  on  their  way  to 
Connecticut  coming  near  the  town  on  Monday,  heard  the  firing, 
and  discerning  signs  of  trouble,  durst  go  no  farther,  but 
hastened  back  to  Marlboro'  where  most  providentially  a  troop 
had  Just  arrived,  which  could  go  to  Brookfield. 

But  travel   was  slow.      Tuesday,  Aug.  3d.    the  shooting;   and 


21 

shouting  was  kept  up,  and  being  baffled  by  the  dauntless  resist- 
ance of  the  English,  the  savages  "  resort  to  taunts,  mocking  the 
prayers  of  the  people.  Some  went  to  the  town's  meeting  house," 
twenty  rods  distant,  and  dared  the  people  of  the  garrison  to  come 
out  and  pray  and  sing  psalms,  themselves  making  hideous 
Bcreeching,  "  somewhat  resemblino;  sincjino;." 

The  English  muskets  did  sore  work  that  day  on  the  besiegers, 
and  toward  evening  their  dead  and  wounded  were  carried  off  on 
the  backs  of  survivors,  in  sight  of  the  gari'ison.  They  again 
tried  to  fire  the  house  by  using  rags  dipped  in  brimstone  tied  to 
their  arrows.  The  roof  once  caught  fire  from  these,  and  only 
by  cutting  through,  could  the  besieged  put  out  the  flames. 
This  day  too,  they  pushed  a  pile  of  burning  flax  and  hay  up  to  the 
house,  and  so  guarded  the  door  that  no  way  was  found  by  which 
to  extinguish  it,  but  by  breaking  down  a  part  of  the  wall  next 
to  the  fire.  A  ball  of  fire  was  also  shot  into  the  garret  among 
some  flax  there ;  but  the  "  keeper  of  Israel  "  being  pleased  to 
prosper  their  endeavors,  these  dangerous  devices  all  failed. 

Not  a  man  was  hurt  that  day,  except  Thomas  Wilson,  who 
while  drawing  water  was  fired  at  by  an  Indian  who  guessed 
his  position  behind  a  board  fence.  The  ball  struck  him  ^  in  the 
upper  jaw  and  in  the  neck."  "  The  man  affrighted  "  says  Fiske, 
"bawled  out  that  he  was  killed."  The  Indian  knowing  his 
voice,  (Wilson  was  a  settler)  shouted  "me  kill  major  Wilson," 
"  but  his  wound  was  healed  in  a  short  time." 

Wednesday,  4th  of  August,  the  third  terrible  daj'  dawns. 
The  savages  galled  by  the  shot  from  the  garrison,  began  a 
counter-work,  using  "  posts,  rails,  boards  and  hay  "  to  fortify  the 
meeting-house  and  the  barn  belongins;  to  the  garrison  house. 
They  needed  shelter.  The  firing  and  yelling  diminishes. 
Powder  grows  scarce,  and  the  English  grow  fearless.  The  as- 
sailants again  turn  to  the  oft-tried  project  of  burning  them  out. 


22 

A  cart  was  filled  with  hay  and  flax,  and  planks  set  up  in  the  end 
to  shelter  those  wheeling  it  up  to  the  house.  The  marksmen 
in  the  house,  made  this  of  little  avail.  They  next  hit  upon  a  very 
promising  device.  Barrels  were  taken,  poles  run  through  the 
heads  as  axles,  and  to  these,  two  strings  of  poles  "  about  fourteen 
rods  long "  were  attached,  ti'uckle  wheels  being  fastened  un- 
der at  intervals,  to  hold  and  bear  the  poles.  The  end  was  load- 
ed with  hay,  flax  and  chips.  Two  of  these  cumbrous  machines 
were  fixed,  and  made  ready  for  use  that  night.  But  the  Lord, 
who  is  "  a  present  help  in  time  of  trouble,"  sent  first  a  shower 
which  wet  the  fii'ing  stuff"  and  doubtless  damped  the  spirits  of 
the  savages  also.  The  sun  went  down  on  them  busy  over  these 
contrivances  ;  when  "  about  an  hour  in  the  night,"  or  after  sun- 
set, the  shouts  of  white  men  and  the  bellowing  of  cattle  startle 
both  the  Indians  and  the  garrison.  Major  Willard,  found  at 
Marlboro  with  Capt.  Parker  of  Groton,  and  fifty-three  men, 
five  of  them  friendly  Indians  —  by  a  forced  march  had  in  a  most 
timely  hour  reached  them.  But  neither  party  knew  the  other. 
Willard  thought  the  Indians  were  in  the  house,  and  was  about 
firing  upon  it,  when  Major  Wilson's  voice  revealed  who  the  in- 
mates were.  The  trumpet  was  sounded,  the  doors  opened,  but  not 
too  soon,  for  the  Indians  discovering  the  arrival,  attacked  them 
furiously,  wounding  two  men  and  killing  a  horse  before  they 
could  be  sheltered.  Oh,  the  joy  in  that  dark,  overcrowded  dwell- 
ing that  evening  ! 

All  night  the  despairing  rage  of  the  assailants  was  felt.  Five 
more  horses  were  wounded  in  the  yard  before  morning.  The 
house  reserved  by  the  Indians  as  a  kind  of  outpost  was  set  on 
fire,  that  the  light  from  its  flames  might  guide  their  assaults, 
and  toward  morning,  the  meeting  house  and  the  fortified 
barn  sent  their  lurid  flames  into  the  sultry  August  sky.  Then 
discouraged,  and  apprehensive  no  doubt,  that  their  cruel    per 


23 

fidy  would  be  avenojed,  the  foe,  as  the  day  broke,  shink  away  into 
their  hiding  places  and  were  seen  no  more.  That  Willard  was 
not  cut  off  in  his  approach  was  eminently  providential.  He  had 
no  information  of  the  treachery  or  of  the  fight.  All  he  knew, 
was  from  the  report  of  the  returning  emigrants,  and  all  they 
could  tell,  was  conjecture.  Two  sentry  posts  lurked  unseen  by 
him  on  his  way ;  one  probably  near  the  East  Brookfield  railway 
station,  where  the  remams  of  an  Indian  fort  were  recently  visi- 
ble, and  the  other  perhaps  not  far  from  the  old  three  corners 
where  the  town-pound  used  to  be.  The  Indians  afterwards  said, 
those  at  the  first  picket  let  the  troops  pass,  so  that  while  those  at 
the  next  post  attacked  them  in  front,  they  would  fall  upon  the 
rear ;  but  Wheeler  supposes  that  the  main  force  at  the  guard 
posts  had  been  called  in  to  help  get  the  fire-carts  in  readiness,  and 
all  were  so  busy  and  noisy  over  them,  as  not  to  notice  the  alarm 
guns,  and  so  the  deliverers  came  safely  to  their  almost  hopeless 
brethren. 

Thursday,  August  5th,  all  was  still.  No  trace  of  the  foe  was 
seen,  save  in  the  smouldering  remnants  of  the  buildings  and 
half-burnt  contrivances  left  behind.  The  woods  were  scoured 
but  no  Indian  was  found.  Two  days  after,  a  man  was  wounded 
by  the  skulking,  wary  foe ;  and  so  ended  the  bloodshed  of  that 
world-fimed  scene.  Toward  the  end  of  the  week  troops  arrived 
from  Boston,  and  on  the  same  day  Lieut.  Cooper  reached  them 
from  Springfield. 

What  a  story  for  epic  or  for  drama  !  Such  heroism,  endur- 
ance, suffering !  What  a  theme  for  pathos  or  for  passion  !  "  The 
waste  and  howling  wilderness  "  on  every  side  ;  the  smoke  of 
burning  homes  lingering  in  the  brands  of  the  huo-e  timbers  then 
used  ;  trees  and  gardens  broken  down  ;  fields  pillaged  ;  cattle 
slaughtered,  and,  over  all,  the  remembrance  of  the  dead,  slain 


24 

by  brutal  foes  who  found  a  joy  in  the  torture,  and  a  delight  in 
the  agony  of  their  victims. 

Five  days  they  linger  ;  and  on  Tuesday,  Aug.  10th,  a  melan- 
choly train  set  off  from  the  only  remaining  house  of  the  settlement. 
Capt.  Hutchinson  and  such  of  the  wounded  as  could  bear  the  trav- 
el, and  probably  many  of  the  fifty  women  and  children  are  in 
it.  Marlboro'  is  the  haven  of  their  hopes.  Three  wearisome 
days,  unsheltered  by  night,  scantily  fed  by  day,  are  spent  in 
getting  there.  It  was  but  ten  mi.es  a  day.  The  brave  Hutch- 
inson was  so  "  overtired  with  his  long  journey,  and  spent  by 
his  wounds,"  that  five  days  later,  "  on  the  19th  of  August "  he 
sunk  into  the  sleep  from  which  the  war-whoop  would  no  more 
awake  him.  Next  day  he  was  buried,  and  his  dust  still  sleeps 
in  that  ancient  sister  town.  Brookfield  owes  to  his  memory 
some  grateful  tablet,  recording  his  rare  worth  and  sorrowful  end. 

Major  Willard  reached  his  family  safely,  but  died  two  years 
after,  and  for  nearly  a  century  has  borne  dishonor  from  the  un- 
accountable story  given  first,  and  given  only,  by  Dr.  Fiske  of 
this  town,  of  his  being  rebuked  by  the  court  and  dying  of  a 
broken  heart  from  it,  on  account  of  his  most  humane  and  gal- 
lant rescue  of  our  fathers.  A  descendant  of  the  noble  soldier, 
has  recently  very  ably  exposed  the  falsity  of  the  report  and  for- 
ever extinguished  the  sad  slander  it  conveyed. 

The  dispersion  however  was  not  complete.  Thomas  Wheeler, 
son  of  the  Captain  and  some  other  wounded  men,  and  of  course 
a  garrison  to  protect,  and  friends  to  nurse  them  remained,  and 
Wheeler  relates  that  the  "  men  women  and  children  removed  with 
what  they  had  left,  to  several  places  either  where  they  had  lived 
before  their  planting  or  setting  down  there,  or  where  they  had 
relatives  to  receive  or  entertain  them."  Dr.  Fiske  says  "  the 
Court  ordered  the  people  away."  So  far  from  tliat,  the  court 
sent   men  and    munitions  to  the    garrison.      "  Major    Willard 


25 

stayed  at  Brookfield  some  weeks  after  our  coming  away  from 
there,  several  companies  of  soldiers  were  sent  up  thither  and 
to  Hadley  "  says  Wheeler,  and  Feb.  21,  1676  : 

"  A  warrant  was  ordered  to  be  issued  out  to  y®  comittee  for 
y®  army  to  send  away  y*'  prouissions  ordered  to  be  at  the  head 
•juarters  at  Marlborow  by  y°  last  day  of  y^  weeke  ;  also,  to  send 
vp  some  liquor's  &  spice,  w"^  a  competency  of  canvas  for  a  tent 
to  shelter  the  prouisions  &  amunition,  as  also  the  carpenters 
tooles,  nayles,  &c,  to  build  a  quarter  at  Suoboag,  or  elsewhere, 
w'=^  was  don." 

In  March  1676,  J.  Brading  informs  the  Council  of  the 
"jeopardous  condition  of  Quobaug  garrison,"  and  on  the 
22d  of  March  1676,  "  Capt.  Nath'l  Graves  of  Charlestown  was 
appointed  Commander  of  the  garrison  at  Brookfield,"  with  lib- 
erty, "  to  have  20  men,  and  30  horses." 

Probably  the  settlement  was  mainly  scattered,  but  the  evi- 
dence is  full  that  it  was  not  broken  up.  The  death  of  Philip 
the  following  August  (1676)  broke  the  spirit  and  strength  of 
the  Indian  plot  against  the  settlers,  and  although  frequent  mur- 
ders by  them  made  frontier  life  insecure,  yet  the  settlers  held 
fast  their  homes,  and  others  adventured  in  time  to  join  them. 

"  May  22d,  1691.  In  answer  to  the  Peticon  of  the  Inhabi- 
tants of  Squabaug  alias  Brookfield,  Colonel  John  P/jncheon,  Mr. 
Joseph  Hawley,  Samuel  Marshfield,  John  Hitchcock  and  Sam'l 
Ely,  formerly  appointed  a  Committee  for  regulating  the  settle- 
ment of  the  plantation  of  Squabaug  alias  Brookfield  are  contin- 
ued and  impowered  to  that  Service,  taking  effectual  care  so  to 
direct  and  order  the  said  Settlement  with  that  compactness  and 
neer  Scituation  of  the  dwellings,  that  they  may  all  be  drawn  into 
a  Line  of  a  Garrison,  and   made  capable  of  defence  against  the 

Indian  and  French  Enemy." 
3 


26 

"  May  23d.  Mr.  Josepli  Hawley  of  Northampton  is  appoint- 
ed and  inipowered  to  Joine  persons  in  marriage  in  said  Town." 

These  notices  by  the  court  show  plainly  the  non-extinction  of 
the  settlement. 

An  act  of  the  court  adds  a  little  light  as  to  their  condition, 
thus  : — "  to  Susanna  Ayres  late  of  Quaboag,  widdow,  alijas 
Brookfeild,  humbly  desiring  that  what  she  expended  on,  and  the 
souldjers  had  of  her  for  y®  countrys  vse,  as  five  pounds  tenn  shill- 
ings in  swyne,  by  Capt.  Pooles  order,  as  also  seventeen  shillings 
and  seven  pence  Ephrajm  Curtis  had  for  himself  &  company 
&  horses  on  the  countrys  account  w*'^  what  Major  Willard  had, 
which  will  appear  by  the  account  she  may  be  pajd  &  satisfied  for." 

She  may  have  been  the  widow  of  Serjeant  Eyres,  (John 
Ayres)  slain  in  Monday  mornings  fight  at  the  swamp. 

But  the  recovery  from  the  partial  dispersion  was  slow  and 
cautious.  Whatever  written  history  the  settlement  had  accumula- 
ted in  those  fifteen  years,  and  no  doubt  records  had  been  made, 
perished  in  that  fiery  ruin. 

A  stray,  torn  leaf  numbered  (5,)  as  if  the  fifth  of  some  book, 
gives  us  the  Jirst  line  of  the  written  story  of  the  Town.  For 
its  own  sake  and  as  a  specimen  of  scores  of  pages  of  early  rec- 
ords, it  is  copied : 

"  Feby.  24  :  168|.  Lay'd  out  To  Mr.  Wolcott  twenty  acres 
of  meadow  and  stripes  of  upland  and  swamp,  four  acres  Lyeth 
on  the  South  side  of  the  Rhode,  part  Ag'st  Joseph  Wilcot's  up- 
land and  part  adgacint  to  eight  acres  which  Lyeth  more  easterly 
onely  the  parteth  it." 

"  Also  eight  acres  of  meadow  L}dng  on  the  7  mile  river  and 
between  the  seven  and  five  mile  river,  being  part  meadow  ;  part 
swamp,  being  the  whole  piece  In  tliat  neck  on  the  East  Side  of 
the  five  mile  River  and  to  the  upland  of  the  7  mile  river." 


27 

May  25,  1687,  a  measurement  of  Mr.  Wolcott's  land  is  speci- 
fied, and  a  grant  of  ten  acres  on  the  "  pine  plain  "  was  made 
March  3d  before.  Joseph  Hawley  was  the  Register.  This 
record,  however,  was  not  the  original,  but  "  Taken  out  of  Mr. 
Samuel  Markfield's  measuring  Book,  Mar.  2,  1710,  by  the 
Comitees'  order." 

It  is  a  little  surprising  that  during  the  seven  years  following 
the  burning  of  the  town,  so  little  trace  can  be  found  of  it,  either 
in  the  town,  or  in  the  court  records  of  the  colony.  Faint  and 
few,  no  doubt,  were  the  settlers  that  lingered  among  the  desola- 
tions and  dangers  of  the  place.  But  in  Oct.  25,  1692,  a  plain- 
tive and  tedious  petition  was  made,  "  To  y®  Rt.  Honble  his  Ex- 
cellency S"^  W™  Phipps,  Gov'  of  y"^  Majestys  Province  of  y® 
Mass  Bay  in  N.  E.,"  setting  forth  that  "  haveing  made  some 
essay  to  y®  Resetling  s'^  place  (Brookfield  in  y"  Co.  of  Hamp- 
shire) and  finding  difficulties "  (drawn  out  at  length,  mainly 
that  of  non-residence  of  land  owners,  or  as  the  petitioners  state) 
— "  of  y^  most  suteable  Land  to  encourige  Inhabitants,"  they 
pray  that  all  former  grants  may  be  null  and  void  unless  the 
holders  "  come  and  bee  helpfull  in  bearing  of  charges,"  etc. 
They  also  speak  "  as  haveing  some  encouragement  we  shall 
speedily  have  a  minester  of  God's  Word  amongst  us."  Several 
new  names  appear  on  this  petition,  as  Owen,  Lawrence,  Tomb- 
lin  and  Marsh.  As  a  response  to  this  the  "  Great  and  Genrall 
Co't  ordered  that  John  Pynchon,  Esqr.,  Cap'  Sam"  Partridg, 
Mr.  Joseph  Hawley,  Mr.  Hitchcock  and  Mr.  Medad  Pumry 
be  and  are  hereby  appointed  and  Impoured  to  that  service  "' 
(i.  e.  as  a  committee)  "  to  direct  and  regulate  y*  settlement 
of  s**  plantation  and  the  affairs  thereat." 

It  was  during  the  summer  of  this  year  that  the  Woolcot 
tragedy,   so  famed  in  our  annais,  occurred.     Dr.    Fiske  says, 


28 


two  or  three  families  were  broken  up.  Doubtless  the  Indians 
were  such  a  terror  to  the  settlers  as  much  to  impede  the  growth 
of  the  settlement. 

Nov.  24th,  1698  :  "  The  following  Resolve  sent  up  from  the 
Representatives,  was  read,  and  Concurred  with,  vizt : 

"  In  Answer  to  the  Petition  of  the  Inhabitants  of  Brookfield, 
Resolved,  That  there  be  Twenty  Pounds  paid  out  of  the  Pub- 
lic Treasury  of  this  Province,  towards  the  support  of  an  Or- 
thodox Minister  for  one  Year,  to  commence  from  the  time  of  the 
Settlement  of  Such  a  Minister  amongst  them. 

I  consent, 

WM.  STOUGHTON." 

Two  years  more  are  without  record  though  this  committee 
doubtless  nursed  the  infant  town  with  faithful  care,  and  we  cross 
into  the  next  century  before  we  meet  a  further  trace.  Nov.  15, 
1701,  on  a  tattered  leaf  marked  [8,]  is  written,  "  Laid  out  to 
Goodman  Perry  a  parcel  of  land."  There  is  an  earlier  date  by 
three  days  on  a  leaf  numbered  [24]  in  the  same  handwriting, 
and  so  through  all  these  Sibylline  scraps,  disorder  is  the  con- 
stant feature.  From  under  the  one  quoted  is  an  entry  of 
1710.  But  all  these  tokens  indicate  an  original  book,  (it  should 
be  re-made,)  detailing  the  endless  labors  of  the  committee  who 
served  the  curious  caprice  of  settlers  as  to  "  upland  "  "  mead- 
ow "  and  "  plain."  For  twenty-five  years  the  town  records  are 
little  else  than  these  intricate  locations,  exchanges  and  adjust- 
ments of  land.  Other  records  were  doubtless  made,  but  they 
have  perished  in  their  stormy  passage  toward  us. 

Returning  to  the  colonial  records  : 

"  June  27,  1702.  "  Whereas  the  Plantation  of  Brookfield 
lying  on  the  great  Road  betwixt  this  her  Majesty's  Province  & 


29 

the  Colony  of  Ct.  being  a  usual  &  necessary  Stage  for  Trav- 
elers &  post  passing  betwixt  the  two  Grants  is  anew  beginning 
to  be  settled  &  yet  unable  to  support  itself  without  receiving 
some  assistance  from  the  Government,  being  a  Garrisoned  place, 
Resolved  <£20,  towards  the  support  of  a  Chaplain  to  that  Gar- 
rison for  the  present  year  be  payed  out  of  the  public  Treasury." 

Next  year,  Nov.  26,  1703.  "  Considering  the  extraordinary 
Impovershing  circumstances  the  Town  of  Brookfeild's  under 
by  reason  of  the  present  War,"  the  same  sum  was  voted,  for 
"  support  of  the  ministry."  The  same  was  again  voted  in  1705, 
"  provided  such  minister  be  approved  by  the  ministry  of  the 
Neighboring  Towns."  In  1706,  Nov.  7,  X20,  and—  "  begin- 
ning yesterday  Nov.  15,  1707,  X20  are  allowed  towards  main- 
taining a  minister  in  said  town,  provided  such  minister  be 
approved  by  the  ministry  of  the  three  neighboring  towns." 

Until  the  year  1715,  the  same  generous  gifts  were  repeated, 
so  that  (the  worthy  General  Court  serving  as  a  Home  Mission- 
ary Society  to  the  feeble  settlement,)  the  ministry  of  the  gospel 
was  probably  never  remitted  for  much  time.  The  fruit  of  that 
pious  care  is  seen  in  the  moral  and  religious  excellence  of  the 
inhabitants  to  the  present  day. 

"  Nov.  8,  1710.  10  Pounds  granted  towards  mending  the 
Mill  Dam  in  the  said  Town,  and  such  of  the  Inhabitants  as  are 
by  the  Enemy  driven  from  their  Houses  &  Livings  be  admitted 
into  the  Service  as  Soldiers  that  are  capable  thereof  &  his  Ex- 
cellency shall  please  to  entertain  : — 

Consented  to,  J.  Dudley." 

"  Saturday,  June  14,  1712,"  £20  were  granted  "  towards  the 
maintenance  of  Mr.  John  James  in  the  work  of  the  Ministry  at 
Ijrookfield  the  year  curr'.     Consented  to,  J.  Dudley." 


30 

Tuesday,  June  16,  1713.  The  £20  were  granted  "  for  the 
year  current  towards  the  maintenance  of  the  ministry  in  the 
Phxntation  of  Brookfield." 

June  22,  1714.  "  In  answer  to  a  petition  of  Thomas  Ayres 
&c.  Sons  of  John  Ayres  some  Time  of  Quaboag  alias  Brook- 
field,  diverse  years  since  deceased.  Praying  that  the  present 
Committee  or  some  other  may  be  ordered  to  make  Inquiry  & 
Cause  a  Register  to  be  made  of  the  several  Lay  Rights  & 
Proprieties  of  Land  within  the  said  Plantation  granted  to  the 
first  &  ancient  Settlers  &  others  to  be  entered  in  a  Book  for  that 
Purpose : — Ordered  that  the  Prayer  of  the  Petitioners  be 
Granted  &  that  Samuel  Partridge  Esq',  &  others  the  present 
Committee  for  Brookfield  be  directed  &  impowered  to  make 
Inquiry  &  Cause  a  Register  to  be  made  of  the  Lay  Riglits  & 
Proprieties  of  Land  within  the  s<^  Plantation  granted  to  the  first 
&  ancient  Settlers  &  others,  particularly  of  a  Grant  made  to 
Mr.  PhilHps  some  Time  Minister  of  the  said  place,  &  make 
Report  to  this  Court ;  And  the  Committee  to  take  Care  that 
Provision  be  made  for  the  payment  of  Mr.  John  James  late 
minister  of  Brookfield  during  his  continuance  there.' 

"  Concurred  by  the  Representatives  : — Consented  to,  J.  Dud- 
ley." 

After  tedious  details  in  the  committee's  book  of  metes  and 
bounds,  seeming  enough  to  determine  every  acre  of  this  soil,  the 
grateful  record  is  reached  of  a  meeting  held  Sept.  17,  1714, 
when  the  Committee,  "  unanimously  agree  That  the  Inhabi- 
tants Build  a  Meetnig  House  wherein  to  attend  the  worship  of 
God,  which  shall  be  sett  up  &  erected  In  s*  place  where  form- 
erly the  Meeting  House  was  Built :  near  old  John  Ayres  House 
Lett,  Lying  near  about  the  center  of  The  town."  An  "  Exact 
List  of  the  Rateable  Estate,"  was  also  ordered  at  this  meeting 
and  a  special  rate  "for  the  payment  of  there   minister."     This 


31 


however,  was  three  years  before  a  minister  was  settled.  Each 
man  was  required  also  to  give  a  day's  work  to  repair  the  Mill, 
or  pay  3  shillings  ;  their  care  for  the  bread  of  life,  and  for  that 
which  perisheth  thus  thoughtfully  uniting. 

A  year  and  three  months  after  this,  was  an  eventful  day  to 
Brookfield  township.  "  A  meeting  of  the  Committee  was  held 
and  of  the  Inhabitants  also.'''  "  The  Committee  then  ordered  a 
Highway  of  six  rods  wide  be  laid  out  from  the  place  where  the 
meeting-house  is  to  be  built,  down  to  the  new  County  Rode  on 
the  side  of  Coys  Brook."  That  vote  opened  the  grand  avenue 
climbing  yon  noble  hill ;  a  feature  of  scenery  noticed  by  even 
foreign  visitors. 

The  inhabitants  on  this  day,  "  chose  William  Old,  Edward 
Walker,  Jr.,  and  Elisha  Rise  for  a  committee  to  order  and  to 
take  care  to  carry  on  y®  building  a  bridge  over  Quaboag  Rivers 
att  Mason's  point."  Another  committee  were  to  take  a  like 
charge  of  a  bridge  "  att  Marks  River."  But  the  great  act  of 
the  day,  was  the  following  written  with  a  special  date  and  head- 
ing : 

"  The  day  above  s**.  The  Inhabitants  of  Brookfeild  agreed 
with  the  consent  of  y**  Committe  to  build  a  meeting  House 
wherein  to  cany  on  y"  worship  of  God.  In  form  and  manner 
as  follows  :  viz,  45  foott  in  Lenght  &  35  foott  in  wedht :  and  to 
put  in  Galery  peices  so  y'  they  may  build  Galeries  when  thoj 
shall  have  occation,  &  to  cary  on  the  building  of  s*^  house  as  far 
as  They  can  conveniently  with  y®  Labour,  &  what  shall  be  Re- 
quired in  money  for  y®  carying  of  s**  work  to  be  Raised  by  a 
Town  Rate  :  &  if  any  person  or  persons  Refuse  to  Labour, 
Having  suitable  warning  by  y^  committee  Hereafter  mentioned, 
shall  pay  there  proportion  in  mone3%  The  Inhabitants  Likewise 
agree  to  gett  y'^  Timber  this  winter."     A  committee  of  nine ; 


32 

Thomas  Barns  chairman,  was  named  "  For  the  carying  of  s** 
work." 

In  another  place  is  the  record  on  that  day,  "  that  the  great 
feild  upon  y°  plain  shall  be  sufficiently  fenced  and  att  no  time 
laid  open."  This  was  to  preserve  the  corn  planted  there  ;  and 
"  a  pair  of  bars  or  gate  at  each  end  were  to  be  kept  shut,"  on 
penalty.  This  fine  common  thus  was,  a  century  and  a  half 
ago,  the  town  corn-field  !     Imagine  the  beauty  of  it. 

A  tax  of  X30  was  voted  Jan.  4,  1717,  "  for  Glass  &  nails 
for  there  Meeting  House  &  Eight  pounds  for  window  cases  & 
other  public  uses." 

The  next  glimpse  of  this  meeting  house  is  in  votes,  "  att  a 
Legall  Town  meeting  on  Thursday  Dec.  14  1721."  They  out- 
line so  clearly  the  house,  the  people  and  the  times,  that  I  must 
recite  them. 

"  Voted ;  To  build  up  the  seats  in  the  body  of  y^  meeting 
house  with  good  strong  plain  seats."  Pew  lots  were  then  voted 
to  various  persons,  and,  "  Voted  :  to  build  a  ministry  pue  on  y® 
Right  hand  of  y'^  pulpit ;  to  y®  stairs  of  ye  pulpit  to  y®  middle 
stud  In  the  window."  Dea.  Henry  Gilbert :  ''  a  pue  next  to 
y®  ministry  pue,"  and  Dea.  Joseph  Jennings  next  to  him.  Each 
grantor  should  pay  40  shillings  to  the  town  Treasurer,  "  to  be 
laid  out  to  finish  the  house."  Seven  years  had  passed  since  the 
building  began,  and  it  was  yet  unfinished.  On  the  same  day  a 
vote  directed  the  Town's  Clerk  to  gather  up,  "  all  the  copyes 
of  Records  belonging  to  ye  Town." 

But  to  return  to  the  great  topic  of  the  records  of  that  period 
—  the  call  and  settlement  of  Mr.  Cheney. 

"  At  a  meeting  of  the  Inhabitants  of  Brookfield  on  Apr.,  y« 
5tli  1716.     Voted,  y*  Thomas  Barnes  be  moderator  for  s^  Day  : 


33 


Voted  that  Edward  Walker,  Sen.,  Joseph  Banister  and  Ehsha 
Rise,  Doe  further  Discourse  Mr.  Cheney  as  to  his  proposals 
for  order  to  a  settlement  in  s*^  place  to  carry  on  y®  work  of 
the  ministry." 

Having  considered  Mr.  Cheney's  proposals,  the  inhabitants 
voted,  "  To  Give  Mr.  Cheney  for  his  salery,  fivety-two  pounds, 
yearly  for  three  years  ;  and  to  Rise  forty  shillings  a  year  until 
it  comes  to  seventy  pounds.  And  then  to  stay." 

Voted:  "  To  Build  him  a  house  &  Barn  according  to  y^  De- 
mentions  y'  he  has  given  ;  Mr.  Cheney  providing  Glass,  nails 
&  Iron." 

Voted  :  "  to  Break  up  &  fence  &  fitt  to  sow  Eight  acres  of 
Land  :  four  this  year :  &  four  acres  To  be  Broke  up  on  the 
plain  this  year.  The  other  two  acres  to  be  done  within  four 
years," 

Voted  :  "  To  gett  Mr.  Cheney  twenty  five  cords  of  wood 
yearly  his  Life  time." 

Voted :  "  To  give  Mr.  Cheney,  each  man  one  days  work 
yearly  ;  for  six  years.  His  House  &  Barn  to  be  built  in  four 
years.  Always  provided  Mr.  Cheney  be  our  ordained  minister." 

"  Agreed  and  allowed  by  the  committee  for  Brookfield,  May 
16,  1716." 

This  committee  appear  to  have  had  a  species  of  ratifying  pre- 
rogative, as  all  proceedings  at  this  period  have  the  certificate 
of  their  acceptance.  Next  comes  the  first  recorded  communica- 
tion from  Mr.  Cheney. 

"  Gentlemen  as  to  y«  Dimentions  of  y®  House  &  Barn  you 
Propose  to  Build  for  me.  In  case  I  should  Settle  amongst  you, 
it  is  my  mind  &  desire  with  Respect  to  my  house  :  y'  y"  Lenght 
may  be  42  foott.  The  wedht  20  foott ;  as  to  y«  stud,  fourteen 
foott  stud  &  as  to  y"'  barn  That  it  may  be  30  foott  long,  &  20 
foott  wide  w*^  a  Lentow  on  one  side." 

This  from  your  servant,  Thos.  Cheney." 


34 

As  to  y®  Glass,  nails  &  Iron  I  will  provide  &  Procure  myself 
so  far  as  Is  necessary  to  s*^  House  &  Barn.  Tlios.  Cheney." 

"  The  above  s'*  Proposals  were  voted  on  at  the  meeting  Apr., 
5tli,  in  the  atHrmative." 

A  little  later  the  town  confirmed  a  grant  made  in  1714, 
of  three  lots  of  meadow  and  plain,  and  then  add  a  gift  of  100 
acres  more,  "to  be  taken  up  when  he  shall  chuse."  The  same 
generous  spirit  re-appears  in  Mar.  8th  17^,  "taking  into 
Consideration  a  former  grant  In  the  antient  manuscrips  of 
Brookfeild  of  Some  Land  sequestered  for  the  ministry,"  they 
confirm  the  same.     This  was  about  thirty  acres. 

"  In  the  antient  manuscrips  of  Brookfeild,"  —  the  great 
longing  of  men  in  all  times  for  a  past  on  which  to  fasten  remem- 
brances, and  by  which  to  soothe  and  mellow  in  its  shadows  the 
tiresome  glare  of  the  present. 

Scarce  half  a  century  has  passed  since  the  first  settler's  cabin 
sent  its  smoke  through  the  thick  trees,  and  part  of  that  time 
dispersion  and  desolation  had  been  their  history.  Yet  true  to 
a  great  instinct  of  civilization,  they  fondly  recall  "  antient " 
records  and  dignify  public  acts  by  revered  precedent.  'Tis  an 
evidence  of  that  reverent  sympathy  with  the  past,  which  virtu- 
ous action  always  feels,  and  which  this  day's  celebration  con- 
firms and  displays. 

Through  another  vote  —  Oct.  12,  1716  — -the  aiFection  of  the 
people  to  the  young  pastor  is  shown,  and  a  tradition  of  earliest 
ministerial  services  confirmed.  "  Whereas  about  3  years  since 
the  Gen"  Cot*^  allowed  to  the  ministry  in  Brookfield  twenty 
pounds,  of  which  sum  Mr.  Elmore  who  left  the  ministry  so  as 
he  had  but  one  half  part  of  s'^  sum  pay*^  to  him,  there  Remaynes 
ten    pounds  of   s'^   sum   or   donation,  the    Committee  judge    it 


35 


meete  this  last  part  be  pay*^  to  Mr.  Thomas  Cheney  the  present 
minister  as  part  of  his  sallery,  and  have  given  order  to  Luke 
Hitchcock  Esqr.,  to  get  the  money  for  him." 

By  another  act  at  this  meeting,  a  public  building  of  some  con- 
sequence to  this  history  is  shown.  "  Sold  to  Mr.  Thos.  Cheney 
our  present  minister,  y**  Toivne's  House  &  about  six  acres  of 
land  it  stands  on,  for  which  he  is  to  sett  of,  &  allow  unto  the 
Inhabitants  thirty  pounds  of  the  first  Rates  that  are  due  to  him, 
or  will  be  due." 

What  building  was  this  ?  Only  the  "  besieged  house,"  was 
left  standing  by  the  Indians.  Was  this  a  garrison  built  in  part 
by  the  government,  and  used  at  this  time  for  public  worship  ? 
This  is  the  only  trace  of  it. 

The  first  Tax  list  appears  in  April  of  the  next  year.  One 
hundred  and  two  names  and  estates  are  set  down  in  it.  The 
highest  tax  was  £3.  lis.  Sd.  assessed  upon  Jona.  Hamilton  and 
the  sum  of  all  the  taxes  was  X121.  Ss. 

We  are  surprised  at  the  number  of  names  now  found  in  the 
town,  but  some  were  plainly  those  of  non-residents,  owners  but 
not  tillers  of  the  soil,  and  seven  of  the  taxes  are  on  "  the  heirs," 
of  settlers  who  so  early  slept  beneath  the  clods  of  the  valley. 
The  effects  of  non-resident  ownership  had  become  grievous, 
and  in  July  26,  1715,  "  the  following  order  passed  by  Repre- 
sentatives Read  and  Concurred." 

"  Upon  Reading  a  Petition  of  Thomas  Baker,  Philip  Goss, 
and  Joseph  Banister,  in  Behalf  of  the  Inhabitants  of  Brookfield, 
Showing  that  by  Reason  of  the  Desertion  of  the  Place  by  the 
first  Grantors,  &  by  the  Sale  of  many  Grants  since  made.  Good 
Part  of  the  Lands  have  fallen  into  the  hands  of  Strangers,  who 
neither  improve,  nor  sell  to  those  who  would  settle  Themselves 


36 


amongst  them,  which  greatly  obstructs  their  Growth  &  hurts 
their  pubhc  Aiiairs,  Especially  rendering  them  incapable  of  Sett- 
ling &  Supporting  the  ministry  amongst  them,  Praying  that  for 
some  few  years  next  Succeeding,  and  until  they  shall  be  more 
capable  of  Enduring  a  charge.  All  Lands,  belonging  to  non- 
Residents  as  well  as  others,  tho'  not  under  Improvement,  may 
be  made  liable  to  be  taxed  in  all  Town  Assessments  and  that 
the  committee  may  receive  direction  therein  : 

Ordered  that  for  seven  Years  next  coming  all  Town  Assess- 
ments in  Brookfield  be  raised  on  Polls,  as  the  law  directs,  and 
on  the  Real  Estates  of  the  Non-Residents  as  well  as  the  Resi- 
dent Proprietors,  Exclusive  of  Personal  Estates,  w'*  the  Com- 
mittee for  Settling  the  said  Town  are  hereby  directed  &  fully 
impowered  to  levy  &  collect  accordingly  so  long  as  they  shall  be 
continued  by  this  court,  and  to  take  care  that  the  Town  be 
settled  in  the  most  regular  compact  and  defensible  manner  that 
mav  be.  Consented  to.  J.  Dudley. 

The  evidently  strong  wish  to  have  a  minister  settled  among 
them  met  so  many  hindrances  that  not  until  July  16,  1717, 
were  they  able  to  fix  a  day  for  the  act.  As  that  vote,  in  a  sense^ 
begins  the  ecclesiastical  history  of  the  town,  it  claims  a  place. 

Voted:  "That  the  Reverend  Mr.  Cheney  shall  be  ordained 
minister  for  the  Town.  The  Third  Wedn.,  in  October  next  is 
apointed  &  sett  apart  For  Mr.  Cheney's  ordination." 

Voted :  "  That  Mr.  Tilly  Merick  &  Joseph  Banister  aQuant 
Mr.  Cheney  with  the  Town's  mind  &  as  to  the  day  agreed  upon 
for  his  ordination." 

"  And  now  made  Return  y*  Mr.  Cheney  consents  thereto." 

Voted:  "That  Tilly  Merick  (&  others)  Doe  take  care  that 
suitable  Provition  be  made  for  such  Elders  &  Messengers  as  may 
be  called  to  assist  in  our  ordination."  "  Voted  :  That  y*  cele- 
brate &  sett  apart  a   Day  of  fasting  &  Prayer  to  Implore  God's 


37 

Presents  w**  us  in   this  solemn  &  weiglity  matter,  which  Day  is 
left  to  Mr.  Cheney  to  appoint.     Full  &  clear  votes. 

Test,  Thomas  Gilbircl,  Moderator." 

Underwritten  is  the  evidently  gratified  mind  of  the  Commit- 
tee who  "  Doe  well  aprove  of  the  vote  afores*^  And  Rejoyce  in 
their  unaminity  in  so  good  a  work,  &  hope  to  have  further  oca- 
tion  to  Rejoyce  in  their  good  settlement."  No  record  is  found 
of  the  ordination,  but  the  printed  sermon  preached  by  Rev. 
Solomon  Stoddard  of  Northampton  determines  it,  and  the  forma- 
tion of  the  church.  "  The  duty  of  GOSPEL  MINISTERS 
to  preserve  a  PEOPLE  from  CORRUPTION  set  forth  in  a 
sermon  preached  at  Brookfield  Oct.,  16,  1717,  being  the  day 
wherein  the  Church  was  gathered  and  MR.  THOMAS 
CHENEY  was  ordained  Pastor." 

This  was  the  second  church  gathered  between  Marlboro  and 
the  Connecticut  River.  The  tokens  of  an  unusual  esteem  to- 
ward this  first  pastor,  recur  in  the  acts  both  of  committee  and 
inhabitants.  Through  the  dim  records  of  the  time,  we  seem  to 
discern  a  genial,  ardent  pastor,  living  in  great  intimacy  with  his 
flock.  He  escaped  contention  in  worldly  matters,  even  to  his 
own  loss.     In  1721,  he  communicates  to  the  town  : 

"  In  answer  to  a  motion  from  them  to  have  me  procure  my 
own  wood,  I  being  Informed  Its  your  desire  I  would  do  it,  & 
aquit  the  Town  of  their  obligation  in  that  particular.  This  is 
to  Inform  you  that  I  am  willing  it  four  or  five  yrs.  for  five 
pounds  a  year,  &  not  be  obliged  to  take  it  Longer  or  to  take  it 
during  my  Life,  for  eight  pounds  a  year.  Rather  Inclining  to 
the  former,  which  is  all  at  present,  from  yours, 

Thomas  Cheney,  .  Brookfield  Aprill  *>»  18\" 

In  October  of  this  year,  a  note  from  him  acknowledges  him- 
self   "satisfied  and  contented   with  what  Liet.  Thomas  Gilbert 


38 


hath  (lone  in  that  way  "  —  i-  e.  building  him  a  house  and  bam, 
and  discharges  the  town  from  furtlier  obligation. 

The  people  agreed  to  dig  and  stone  a  well  for  him,  if  he  would 
release  them  from  the  one  days  work  each  man  for  six  years. 
There  is  no  sign  of  the  least  disagreement  in  the  record,  nor 
does  tradition  bring  us  any,  until  the  coming  of  Rev.  Geo. 
Whitefield  to  the  town.  Thursday,  Oct.  16,  1740,  the  great 
Evangelist  on  his  way  from  Leicester  to  Northampton  reached 
the  parsonage.  The  land  was  astir  under  the  mighty  power  of 
God  upon  his  preaching.  An  almost  electric  force  seemed  to 
have  been  given  to  divine  truth  through  his  eloquence.  To  see 
and  hear  him  was  the  univei^sal  wish.  Mr.  Cheney's  peo- 
ple shared  this  enthusiasm,  and  when  the  great  preacher  came 
to  the  town,  they  flocked  to  the  meeting  house.  The  pastor 
hesitated  ;  it  was  an  influence  he  was  unacquainted  with,  and 
rather  feared  than  favored.  But  the  flock  were  before  the  shep- 
herd, and  with  characteristic  discretion  he  yielded  to  their  de- 
mand ;  not,  however,  before  the  throng  made  the  meeting  house 
too  small  by  far,  and  around  a  great  rock,  said  to  be  Northwest 
of  Mr.  Baxter  Barnes'  house  they  gathered.  The  wonderful 
preacher  began, — kindly  saluting  them.  He  was  glad  to  see 
them  ;  and  then  passed  to  enquire  for  the  motives  drawing  them 
there.  "  Some  of  you  come  to  hear  what  the  babbler  will  say," 
is  a  sentence  remembered  by  a  hearer  who  went  to  her  rest 
during  the  ministry  of  Rev.  Dr.  Phelps. 

A  great  reviving  of  religion  ensued,  in  which  Mr.  Cheney 
heartily  labored  and  by  which  the  religious  character  of  the 
town  was  memorably  strengthened.* 

*His  grave  is  at  Brookfield,  a  few  rods  from  the  entrance  on  the  right  hand. 
The  epitaph  reads,  "  Here  lyes  buried  the  Body  of  the  Kev.  Thomas  Cheney,  the 
faitliful  Pastor  of  the  Church  in  this  Place  for  more  than  30  years.  Died  Deer. 
11th,  1747.     Aged  57." 


39 


A  few  traces  of  civil  history  recal  us  again  to  itself.  A  new 
life,  from  some  source,  was  visibly  infused  into  town  affairs  at 
the  beginning  of  the  year  1713.  The  Committee  chosen  by  the 
General  Court  petitioned  for  new  members,  "  being  much  weak- 
ened by  the  death  of  Joseph  Hawley,  Esqr."  Mr.  Ebenezer 
Pomroy  and  Mr.  Luke  Hitchcock  were  elected. 

At  the  next  meeting  new  vigor  is  apparent.  A  "  list  of  con- 
ditions to  land  grants "  was  determined ;  as,  that  the  liolder 
should  "  work  upon  y®  land  granted  within  six  moneths  from  y^ 
grant.  2.  He  should  come  and  live  on  it  within  a  year.  3. 
Should  live  on  it  three  years  from  the  grant  and  failing  in  any 
of  these  particulars  the  grant  reverted  to  the  town."  These 
decisive  terms  quickened  and  consolidated  the  settlement,  and 
infused  both  vigor  and  confidence  into  improvements  essential  to 
their  prosperity.  Capt.  Pomroy  was  appouited  Surveyor, — "  1 
pence  pr.  acrea  for  Laying  out,  to  be  paid  by  the  owner^" 
Philip  Goss  shortly  had  liberty  to  build  a  horse-bridge  over  the 
corner  of  Wickaboag  pond,  his  neighbors  helping  in  the  work, 
and  being  relieved  of  their  taxes  for  so  doing.  In  July,  John 
Wilcutt  has  a  grant  of  forty  acres  of  upland  "  free,"  having 
been  at  great  expense  in  building  a  grist-mill,  and  begun  a  saw- 
mill "  which  will  be  very  Benefitiall  to  the  Town."  Prosperity 
plainly  was  smiling  on  the  town,  and  at  the  end  of  five  years, 
and  in  less  than  one  year  after  the  settlement  of  a  minister,  such 
was  the  progress  that  the  Committee  petitioned  "  His  Excellen- 
cy, Samuel  Shute,  Esqr.,  Captain  Gen'l  and  Governor  in  Chief 
over  His  Majesty's  Province  of  Mass.  Bay  in  N.  E.  and  the  Gene- 
ral Court,"  that  the  people  of  Brookfield,  now  near  fifty  fami- 
lies on  the  ])lace,  have  near  finished  a  very  convenient  Meeting 
House,  have  settled   a   church  and  ordained  an   orthodox  and 


40 

learned  minister ;  "  be  made  a  Township,  and  said  Com.  re- 
leased." 

An  act  granting  this  petition  was  passed  Nov.  12,  1718,  and 
Brookfield  invested  with  all  the  powers,  privileges  and  authori- 
ties to  direct,  order  and  manage  all  the  affairs  as  other  towns. 
The  town  was  assigned  to  Hampshire  for  its  county  connection. 
It  remained  a  part  of  Hampshire  until  the  erection  of  Worces- 
ter County,  Apr.  2,  1731,  when  it  was  transferred  to  this,  its 
present  connection. 

By  comparing  the  population  at  the  dates  1698,  when  only 
twelve  families  dwelt  here,  and  in  1718,  twenty  years  after, 
when  fifty  families  were  numbered,  an  average  yearly  growth 
of  less  than  two  families  is  shown. 

"  The  Town  being  Dismist  from  y®  Committee,  held  its  first 
Town  Meeting  Dec.  15th,  1718."  Thus  begins  the  record, — 
"  Voted :  Left.  Philip  Goose,  Moderator."  (If  cackling  is  some- 
times heard  in  town  meetings  since,  what  wonder  ?)  Thomas 
Gilbert  was  chosen  Town  Clerk.  "  The  work  of  the  day  not 
being  finished "  adjourned  one  week.  Mr.  Gilbert  went  to 
Hartford,  Ct.,  to  be  qualified  for  his  office. 

The  next  year,  1719,  Thomas  Barnes  and  others  of  the  Se- 
lectmen of  the  town,  petition  on  the  basis  of  an  order  passed 
May  1701,  for  a  survey  and  plot  for  the  town  "  eight  miles 
square."  The  work  being  done  and  the  plot  lost  or  "  mislayed," 
another  as  taken  by  Timothy  Dwight,  Surveyor,  is  offered  for 
acceptance,  which  was  done. 

Thus  this  matron  township  had  territory  enough  to  spare  por- 
tions to  the  daughters  which  soon  sprung  up  around  her,  War- 
ren, New  Braintree,  Ware  ;  and  more  recently  the  remaining 
domain  has  been  partitioned  into  the  three  goodly  municipalities, 


41 


— North  Brookfield,  West  Brookfield  and  Brookfield  ;  so  that 
the  original  "  eight  miles  square  "  is  now  parted  among  six 
townships. 

The  next  year,  1720,  the  "  Town  was  of  opinion  that  the 
power  was  wholly  in  the  Town  to  make  grants  of  land."  Land 
was  almost  the  only  staple,  the  currency  indeed  between  the 
people.  An  example  occurred  in  1722.  "  In  consideration  of 
three  pounds  in  nails,  (i.  e.  the  nails  costing  three  pounds,) 
from  y®  hand  of  Mr.  Samuel  Porter  for  use  in  finishing  y'^  Meet- 
ing House,  the  town  made  a  grant  specified  by  bounds,  be  it 
more  or  less."  Gratitude,  as  well  as  economy,  is  evident  in  the 
payment. 

A  surprise  which  I  am  sure  others  must  have  while  perusing 
these  records  as  well  as  myself,  is  happily  relieved  by  an  act  in 
1731,  the  first  discovered  trace  of  public  care  for  common 
schools. 

"  Voted.  That  the  Selectmen  provid  Schooll  Dames  to  keep 
Schooll  in  y®  Seueral  parts  of  the  town  for  3  or  4  months  in  the 
Summer  Season." 

"  Voted.  That  any  number  of  persons  that  are  minded  to 
build  a  Schooll  house  may  set  it  up  in  y'^  highway  or  common 
Land,  near  y**  middle  of  the  town."  The  same  "  priuilige  in 
any  other  part  of  the  Town,"  was  voted  to  any  desiring  it. 
The  spelling  of  the  votes  shows  it  was  high  time  the  school- 
master should  be  abroad.  We  cannot  but  suppose  that  schools 
had  been  kept  during  these  sixty  years  of  life  in  the  place.  In 
some  form,  instruction  was  doubtless  given  to  the  children,  or 
this  and  subsequent  action  would  not  be  found,  as  the  care  for 
education  would  have  ceased  in  that  long  time,  unless  fed  by 
some  rills  of  instruction  invisible  to  the  historian.  In  1733,  a 
vote  of  "  fifty  pounds  for  y"  school  for  y'^  ensuing  year  "  is  seen. 


42 


This  sott'lomeiit  may  indeed  have  been  beliindhand  with  those 
on  the  coast,  and  with  those  in  the  valley  beyond,  in  the  matter 
of  schools  at  the  outset ;  but  the  eminence  of  our  public  schools 
in  recent  times,  has  happily  shown  a  disposition  to  recompense 
any  early  neglects. 

Two  events  of  conspicuous  consequence  appear  in  the  record 
of  1748.  The  people  in  tlie  Northeast  part  of  the  town  had 
grown  weary  of  their  distance  from  the  sanctuary,  and  the 
town  being  without  a  minister,  by  the  death  of  Rev.  Mr.  Cheney 
the  preceding  year,  a  design  for  a  new  precinct  Avas  formed. 
On  the  28th  of  Nov.,  the  petition  of  Capt.  Ebenezer  Witt  and 
others,  for  such  a  division  was  refused  ;  but  a  generous  proposal 
was  offered  by  the  town  to  grant  the  petition  on  certain  con- 
ditions. Probably  the  election  of  Mr.  Elisha  Harding  as  minis- 
ter, (the  other  noticeable  event  of  the  year,)  M'as  a  large  ele- 
ment in  this  new  precinct  question,  for  a  quite  tempestuous 
meeting  it  plainly  was,  in  which  the  petitioners  were  repulsed, 
though  they  voted  concurrence  with  the  church  in  their  choice 
of  Mr.  Harding  as  minister.  The  meeting  was  adjourned  for 
four  weeks;  and  then  "  after  considerable  Debat,"  voted  for  Mr. 
Harding's  "  encouragement  to  Settle  in  the  Gospel  Ministry  one 
thousand  pounds  old  tenor  currancy,  &  for  his  yearly  Sallry  & 
Support,  the  Sum  of  five  hundred  pounds  old  tenor."  This 
almost  over-generous  stipend  makes  us  suspect  that  the  rest  of 
the  town  would  pay  a  free  tax  themselves,  for  the  sake  of  bleed- 
ing the  petitioners  for  the  new  precinct  down  to  quietness 
through  their  share  in  it.  The  negligent  orthography  of  the 
records  betrays  a  sadly  discomposed  spirit. 

A  curious  sliding  scale  was  devised  at  this  meetnig  for  Mr. 
Harding's  payment.  "  Accounting  the  Same  "  i.  e.  the  money, 
"  as  tho'  it  be  in  Indian  corn   at  20s.   pr.   bushel.     Rye,   30*. 


43 

Wheat,  405.  per  bushel  and  so  the  ^500  to  be  increased  or 
diminished  yearly  as  the  prices  of  the  grains  varied,"  — a  rather 
perilous  bargain  for  any  but  a  superhuman  minister,  and  for 
parishioners,  not  of  like  passions  as  we  are.  There  is  an  ad- 
vance, however,  apparent  in  adopting  a  money  basis  for  pastoral 
maintenance  in  place  of  the  entangling  land  grants  of  earlier 
days.  Afterwards,  liberty  was  granted  him  to  cut  his  own 
firewood  on  the  common  land,  "  s'*  Mr.  Harding  not  to  mak 
wast  of  s"^  wood,  especially  of  the  young  wood." 

Next  year,  1749,  Sept.  13,  Mr.  Harding  was  ordained.  A 
brief  and  troubled  ministry  was  his  record.  The  North-men, 
i.  e.  men  of  the  north-east  part  of  the  town,  pressed  their  suit 
for  parochial  separation.  The  conditions  named  bv  the  town  in 
the  November  meeting  were  fulfilled  in  less  than  ten  days^  i.  e. 
fifty  and  more  persons,  (and  by  Dec.  31,  eight  more)  sent  their 
personal  request  for  such  permission,  as  had  been  prescribed. 
They  rested  not  at  that.  With  an  astonishing  vigor,  on  the  5th 
of  April,  1749,  the  frame  of  a  meeting  house  was  raised  on  the 
common,  fronting  which.  Col.  Pliny  Nye's  house  now  stands. 
A  busy  winter  for  woodmen,  hewers  and  framers,  it  must  have 
been — to  cut,  hew,  frame  and  erect  the  huge  timbers  some  of 
us  remember  in  that  massive  frame, — all  in  the  short  days  of  the 
three  winter  months  !  It  was  an  energy  prophetic  of  that  which 
the  inhabitants  of  the  North  parish  have  ever  shown  ;  and  may 
they  never  be  behind  their  ancestors  in  any  onward  public  work. 
But  this  haste  made  waste.  The  location  was  not  satisfactory. 
On  the  16th  of  October  following,  a  covenant  was  signed  by 
forty-two  of  the  inhabitants  predicating  that  several  persons  of 
the  proposed  parish  "  have  been  uneasy  in  the  sitting  of  the 
Meetinrr  House  where  the  frame  now  stands."  They  eno-ao-ed 
to  abide  by  an  arbitration  of  disinterested  men.     The  men  were 


44 


chosen,  and  decided  tliat  the  house  be  built  on  the  spot  where 
the  frame  was  standing.  Ten  years,  however,  passed  before  the 
building  was  finished,  and  indeed  repairing  and  finishing  went 
on  together,  for  in  1764,  the  precinct  "Voted  to  take  the 
shingles  off  the  Roof  of  the  Meeting  house  and  to  repair  the 
same." 

An  act  for  a  Parish  Incorporation  was  granted  March  28, 
1750,  and  a  church  was  embodied  May  28,  1752  ;  and  the  next 
year,  June  3d,  Mr.  Eli  Forbes  was  ordained  pastor.  He  was 
a  graduate  of  Harvard  College,  a  class-mate  with  the  eminent 
Judge  Gushing  and  Mather  Byles,  D.  D.  In  the  year  of  his 
decease,  1804,  the  degree  of  Doctor  in  Divinity  was  conferred 
on  him.  His  ministry  in  the  "  second  precinct "  as  it  was  com- 
monly styled,  ended  March  1,  1775.  His  patriotism  was  sus- 
pected by  his  parishioners,  and  their  demonstrations  toward  him 
were  efficient  in  deciding  him  to  remove.  Tradition  relates  that 
the  suspicious  patriots  one  evening  followed  his  chaise,  throwing 
stones,  and  epithets,  yet  harder  to  bear.  A  bag  of  feathers  and 
a  pot  of  tar  found  on  his  door  stone  one  morning,  determined  him 
to  resign.  An  aged  lady  whose  father  was  at  the  church  meet- 
ing in  which  the  vote  was  taken,  related  to  me  that  on  the  first 
trial  after  Mr.  F.  had  stated  his  reasons,  the  majority  voted 
against  his  dismission.  He  then  addressed  the  church  in  such 
determined  language  that  a  majority  vote  was  gained.  He  pub- 
lished an  Ai'tillery  Election  Sermon  in  1771,  with  a  somewhat 
testy  preface  indicating  in  some  of  its  statements,  that  the  sensi- 
tiveness of  his  parishioners  may  not  have  been  wholly  ground- 
less. He  died  in  Gloucester,  Mass.,  in  the  pastoral  office.  An 
excellent  portrait  of  him  has  been  secured  (a  copy  from  an  old 
one,)  by  the  present  pastor  of  the  church.  It  is  in  the  chapel 
of  the  First  Congregational  Church. 


45 


Returning  to  the  first  parisli,  the  people  had  scarcely  attained 
their  composure  over  the  separation  of  the  North  parish,  when 
a  fresh  difficulty  began  among  themselves.  In  the  year  1753, 
the  project  of  building  a  new  meeting  house  became  a  source  of 
trouble  and  contention.  As  often  since,  the  question  of  locality 
divided  the  people.  Three  localities  were  in  dispute  ; — first,  on 
the  top  of  the  hill  where  the  meeting  house  then  stood  ;  second, 
"  on  the  plain,"  where  it  now  stands  ;  and  third,  "  Mr.  Seth 
Banister's  lawn,"  where  the  church  edifices  of  Brookfield  are 
now  seen.  The  people  South  of  the  hill  would  not  willingly 
go  up  the  hill,  as  they  had  done,  much  less  go  over  it,  as  desired 
to  do  ;  those  West  of  the  hill  would  go  up  it  as  they  had  done, 
but  would  not  go  over  to  the  "  lawn."  The  contest  as  shown 
in  the  petitions  and  projects  for  precinct  meetings  was  arnusingly 
acute,  not  to  say  acrimonious.  The  hill,  emphatically  divided 
the  town,  in  opinion,  as  well  as  in  territory.  Both  divisions 
called  meetings  one  after  another  to  act  on  mere  tentative  opin- 
ions. A  series  of  these  precinct  skirmishes  at  length  drew  a 
proposal  from  the  West  side,  to  give  up  "  the  plain  "  entirely, 
and  to  unite  on  the  hill-top.  They  were  a  little  too  late.  The 
South  side,  with  the  example  of  the  North  precinct  before  them, 
determined  to  cut  the  knot  by  a  decisive  act.  They  set  up  tlio 
frame  of  a  meetino;  house  "  on  Mr.  Banister's  lot,"  in  an  incre- 
dibly  short  time,  expecting  to  decide  the  question,  by  doing  the 
thin<^.  But  timber  and  self-will  were  rather  more  plenty  than 
yielding  self-sacrifice,  and  before  the  echo  of  the  hewer's  axe 
had  died  away,  the  General  Court  were  moved  by  the  West 
side  to  arrest  proceedings  and  to  send  a  committee  to  view  and 
advise.  They  came,  and  after  patiently  hearing  the  parties,  the 
committee  advised  a  separation  and  the  erection  of  a  third  |)arish. 
Their  report  was  accepted  Nov.  8,  1754,  but  the  new  house  lin- 


46 

gcrcd  in  finisliing,  as  did  its  fellow  in  the  North  parish.  A 
church  was  not  gathered  until  April  15,  1756.  It  was  formed 
of  twenty-five  males  and  fourteen  females.  Two  years  after, 
or  May  24th,  1758,  Nathan  Fiske,  A.  M.,  Avas  ordained  pas- 
tor. He  continued  in  office  forty-one  years,  and  died  unattend- 
ed, Sabbath  night,  Nov.  24th,  1799.  "At  night  he  retired 
apparently  in  good  health,  and  in  his  sleep,  his  spirit  departed 
to  its  eternal  home." — {Rev. Mr.  Ward's  Funeral  Sermon.') 

His  education  and  talent  made  him  superior  to  most  of  the 
men  of  his  time.  He  became  a  Doctor  in  Divinity  in  1792. 
He  was  a  classmate  of  Governor  John  Hancock.  An  unusual 
fondness  for  writing  and  publishing  gave  him  preeminence  over 
any  pastor  settled  in  these  churches,  in  the  number  and  amount 
of  piablications.  A  famed  literary  club  known  as  the  "  Minerva 
Society,"  gave  occasion  for  a  series  of  essays  by  him,  somewhat 
in  the  style  of  the  Spectator.,  which  were  published.  His  his- 
torical sermon,  preached  "  On  the  Last  Day  of  the  Year  1775," 
the  first  local  history  written  of  the  town, — though  singularly 
inaccurate,  yet  as  a  first  effort,  deserves  the  gratitude  of  posteri- 
ty. He  erected  the  house  in  which  Rev.  Mr.  Stone,  his  succes- 
sor, lived  and  died  and  bestowed  upon  the  Evangelical  Church 
and  Society. 

The  first  church,  though  again  reduced  by  the  division  form- 
ing the  third  parish,  nobly  went  forward  to  build  and  finish  a 
new  sanctuary.  This  was  done  in  1755.  The  record  is  worthy 
a  place  here.  "  Jan.  22nd,  1755,  Voted,  To  build  a  Meeting 
House  for  public  worship  at  the  turning  of  the  County  rode 
near  the  North  East  Corner  of  a  plow  Field  belonging  to  John 
Barns  being  on  the  Plain,  in  said  first  Precinct."  "  Voted, 
That  said  Meeting  house  be  built  with  timber  and  wood." 
"  Voted,  That  the   meeting  house  shall  be  forty  five  feet  in 


47 

length  and  tliirty  five  feet  in  wedth."  At  the  same  meetino-  a 
committee  was  chosen  "  to  apply  to  the  2nd  and  3d  Precincts 
in  said  town  for  their  proportion  of  right  in  the  old  meetino- 
house  frame."  Animosity  to  the  "  2nd  Precinct,"  is  seen  in 
votes  refusing  Jabe/  Upham,  and  others,  leave  to  be  "  sett  off" 
to  join  it.  A  committee  was  chosen  to  go  to  General  Court  and 
resist  such  petitions,  but  in  August  their  rigor  was  relaxed,  and 
the  negative  votes  were  "  Reconsidered  and  Disannulled." 

The  "  Pewfloor  "  was  estimated  by  a  committee — none  to  be 
more  than  <£3  10s.  nor  less  than  25  shillings.  This  was  a  period 
of  vigorous  agitations  in  the  now  triplicated  parish,  but  the 
mother  showed  marked  dignity  and  skill  in  conducting  herself 
toward  the  sensitive  daughters.  The  superior  men  plainly  were 
there,  and  their  calmer  judgment  and  higher  character  imparted 
pleasiu"'  wisdom  to  their  conduct  of  affairs.  But  the  heavino* 
tides  of  the  time,  either  brought  all  the  latent  discontents  with 
the  pastor,  (Rev.  Mr.  Harding,)  to  the  surface,  or  gave  tempt- 
incj  occasion  for  their  utterance.  Pending  a  scheme  to  assess  all 
the  inhabitants  of  the  three  precincts,  to  pay  the  grant  of  X64, 
made  to  Mr.  Harding  as  settlement,  this  significant  vote  is  re- 
corded :  that  "  said  first  precinct  will  relinquish  to  the  third  pre- 
cinct in  said  town  all  their  right  and  claim  to  the  Rev.  Elisha 
Harding  as  a  minister  free  and  clear  of  any  demands  for  or 
towards  his  settlement,  provided  the  said  third  precinct  will  re- 
ceive the  said  Mr.  Harding  as  a  minister." 

Another  vote  sent  Thomas  Gilbert  to  the  General  Court,  for 
their  determination  as  to  which  precinct  Rev.  Mr.  Harding 
"  shall  belong  ; "  and  "  that  there  may  be  nothing  said  bj  the 
Society  receiving  him  as  to  paying  their  proportion  of  his  settle- 
ment." These  votes  occur  in  the  first  three  meetings  after  the 
organization   of  the  third   parish,  which  was    Nov.  8,  1754. 


48 


These  pointed  discontents  had  their  effect  in  forcing  him  to  re- 
sign, and  May  7,  1755,  a  council  of  five  churches  assembled, 
and  after  tenderly  but  plainly  stating  his  case,  terminated  this 
never  very  happy  connection. 

In  the  American  Quarterly  Register,*  he  is  briefly  mentioned 
as  "  a  gentleman  of  great  benevolence,  and  his  public  ministra- 
tions were  serious  and  adapted  to  edify  and  benefit  his  hearers. 
He  was  distinguished  for  his  probity  and  literary  acquisitions." 

Two  years  after,  February  1,  1757,  Mr.  Nehemiah  Strong  of 
Hadley  was  chosen  pastor.  He  declined,  because  "  the  encour- 
agement for  his  maintenance  was  so  slender," — "  X45  lawful 
silver  money  the  first  year,"  to  increase  to  <£60  by  the  sixth 
year,  and  to  continue  at  that,  also  "  thirty  cords  of  wood,  cord- 
wood  length  and  delivered  at  his  door  ;"  was  the  offer.  In  his 
refusal  he  speaks  of  the  insufficiency  of  the  sum,  "  in  such  a 
place,  where  I  shall  be  necessitated  to  expend  extraordinaries 
in  Ways  of  Hospitality,"  showing  that  Brookfield  was  then,  as 
ever  since,  a  favorite  stopping  place  for  good  men  on  journeys. 

A  call  to  Joseph  Parsons,  Jr.  of  Bradford,  the  same  year,  was 
successful,  and  November  23,  1757  he  was  ordained.  His  ex- 
cellent ministry  was  closed  by  death  in  the  beginning  of  1771, 
in  the  thirty-eighth  year  of  his  age.  During  the  last  three  years 
of  his  ministry  he  was  so  feeble  as  to  be  unable  to  preach,  and 
affectionate  references  in  the  records  of  the  time,  reveal  a  mutu- 
al esteem  between  people  and  pastor.  At  the  meeting  in  March 
after  his  decease,  Dea.  Thos.  Rich  was  directed  "  to  procure  & 
set  up  at  the  Rev.  Mr.  Jos.  Parson's  grave  proper,  decent  grave 
stones  in  memory  of  the  dead."  Twenty-four  shillings  were  to 
be  expended. 

Rev.  Ephraim  Ward  succeeded.     He  was  ordained  October 

*  Vol.  X.  p.  53. 


49 

23, 1771,  just  as  the  shadows  of  the  Revolution  began  to  darken 
the  horizon  of  the  land.  He  was  esteemed  through  his  pastor- 
ate,— which  was  little  short  of  47  years, — as  the  urbane  Chris- 
tian scholar,  illustrating  the  graces  of  the  village  pastor.  So 
admirably  pictured  by  the  godly  Herbert — 

"  as  a  tender  father 
Doth  teach  and  rule  the  Church  and  is  obey'd. 
And  reverenced  by  it,  so  much  the  rather, 
By  how  much  he  dehghted  more  to  lead 

All  by  his  own  example  in  the  way, 

Than  punish  any  when  they  go  astray." 

His  colleague  and  successor,  Eliakim  Phelps,  D.  D.  enriches 
our  festival  by  his  presence.  He  entered  on  his  ministry  here 
October  23,  1816,  which  was  the  forty -fifth  anniversary  of  Mr. 
Ward's  ordination,  and  shared  with  him  the  choice  intimacies  of 
the  joint  pastorate  about  two  years.  Ten  years  and  two  days 
from  his  ordination,  October  25,  1826, — he  was  released  from 
his  charge  that  he  might  assume  the  preceptorship  of  a  once  famed 
"  Classical  Female  School,"  which  for  some  years  flourished  here. 
Rev.  Joseph  I.  Foote  was  installed  on  the  day  of  Dr.  Phelps' 
dismission ;  memorable  for  his  research  and  reproduction  of  our 
too  long  neglected  annals,  after  a  ministry  of  nearly  six  years,  re- 
tired, and  after  some  years  of  labor  in  other  places,  died  by  a 
casualty  on  the  day  before  which  he  wa  s  to  have  been  inaugur- 
ated President  of  Washington  College,  Tenn.  Of  him  and  his 
several  successors,  who  all  now  are  living,  some  future  annalist 
will  weave  the  chaplet  of  deserved  honors. 

But  it  is  more  than  time  to  present  a  few  of  the  honored  cit- 
zen  names  adorning  our  history.  Joseph  Dwight,  Brigadier 
General,  and  judge  in  the  county  court,  Berkshire,  for  a  time 
resided  here.  His  military  career  was  chiefly  in  connection  with 
the  expedition  to  Louisburgh  in  1745.     He  was  one  of  the  gover- 


50 


nor's  conncil,  whicli  at  that  period  was  an  eminent  station,  and 
connected  him  witli  the  cliief  men  of  his  day.  Joshua  Upham 
was  son  of  a  physician  in  Brookfield,  born  1741.  He  and  Dwight 
were  both  graduates  of  Harvard  College,  and  from  their  emi- 
nence, doubtless  contributed  much  to  the  growth  of  the  town,  by 
guiding  public  attention  to  it  and  persuading  settlers  to  choose 
homes  here.  General  Dwight  removed  to  Great  Barrington, 
where  he  died  June  9,  1765.  Quite  early  in  life  Judge  Upham 
(as  he  became),  built  here  one  of  the  first  woolen  factories  ever 
attempted  in  this  country,  (1768.) 

The  great  colonial  contest  for  freedom  with  the  mother  coun- 
try found  him  a  loyalist,  or  tory,  as  then  styled.  This  removed 
him  to  Boston,  and  soon  after  to  New  York,  where  he  joined 
the  British  army,  and  served  as  aid-de-camp  to  Lord  Dorchester, 
and  afterwards  colonel  of  dragoons.  In  the  service  of  the  Prov- 
ince of  New  Brunswick  he  went  to  London  in  1807  and  died 
there  the  next  year. 

Judges  Dorr,  Merrick,  Crosby  and  Foster,  all  mingled  freely 
in  town  and  parish  affairs,  imparting  their  culture,  wisdom  and 
energy  to  its  proceedings,  and  communicating  the  honors  of 
their  high  official  stations  to  their  town  homes. 

Joseph  Dorr,  Judge  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  and  Judge 
of  Probate,  came  to  Brookfield  from  Ward  —  now  Auburn. 
He  graduated  at  Cambridge,  1752,  and  after  filling  several 
public  staticms  died  in  this  town  October  31,  1808,  aged  78. 
Pliny  Merrick  was  son  of  the  minister  of  Wilbraham,  where  he 
was  born  September  14,  1756.  He  graduated  at  Cambridge, 
1776,  and  studied  divinity  with  a  clergyman  in  Springfield,  and 
preached  occasionally  for  several  years.  His  feeble  health  hin- 
dered him  from  settlement.  To  improve  it,  he  spent  two  years 
as  a  teacher  in   Virginia,  and  finding  no   essential   benefit,  re- 


51 


turned,  and  after  the  requisite  study  of  the  law  at  Bridgewater, 
was  admitted  to  the  Bar  in  Plymouth  County,  1787.  In  the 
spring  of  1788,  he  came  to  Brookfield,  where  he  remained  until 
his  death,  March  2,  1814.  He  was  made  Justice  of  the  Court 
of  Sessions  in  1807,  and  chosen  Senator  for  the  county  in  1808. 
His  residence  yet  stands  next  to  the  first  Meeting  House  of  the 
Evangelical  Congregationalist  Church.  He  used  to  express  his 
great  attachment  to  his  pastor, —  Rev.  Mr.  Stone, —  by  saying 
that  if  any  man  spoke  evil  of  him  in  his  presence,  he  would  in- 
stantly knock  him  down.     He  had  lived  in  Virginia  ! 

Oliver  Crosby,  a  native  of  Brookfield,  born  June,  1766,  be- 
came a  justice  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  in  1814,  and  the 
next  year  was  elected  a  Senator  for  the  county.  Though  not 
publicly  educated,  he  raised  himself  to  rare  eminence  by  self- 
culture.  He  was  for  some  years  one  of  the  chief  men  of  Brook- 
field.    His  decease  occurred  July  24,  1818. 

Jabez  Upham,  son  of  Phineas,  was  born  in  Brookfield.  By 
self-exertion  he  gained  a  degree  at  Cambridge,  1785.  He  at- 
tained distinction  as  a  lawyer  and  was  twice  elected  Represent- 
ative to  Congress. 

But  the  name  ever  preeminent  in  the  annals  of  Brookfield, 
is  that  of  Jedediah  Foster.  From  that  home  of  good  men,  the 
town  of  Andover,  he  came  here  to  begin  his  public  life  not  far 
from  1745,  graduating  at  Cambridge  the  preceding  year.  He 
was  chosen  Major  of  forces  raised  in  1751,  when  the  French  and 
Indians  endangered  the  country.  In  the  "  Provincial  Congress  " 
he  had  a  seat,  and  the  people  chose  him  colonel  before  there  was 
a  government  to  issue  commissions.  He  was  Judge  of  Probate 
and  of  the  Supreme  Court.  In  March  1779,  he  was  in  the 
Convention  at  Cambrido-e,  assembled  to  form  a  constitution,  and 
one  of  the  committee  for  draftinir  it.     But  his  citizen  character 


52 

should  be  specially  commemorated  in  these  pages.  The  perusal 
of  our  records  will  show  that  no  man  has  ever  dwelt  among  us, 
who  held  so  many  local  trusts, —  lived  in  such  intimate  sympa- 
thy with  the  people,  cared  for  and  served  them  so  abundantly 
and  excellently, —  and  yet  so  far  excelled  them  in  station  and 
character.  He  projected  and  carried  through  more  that  is  to  be 
prized  in  our  town  life,  than  could  be  recounted  for  hours.  In 
church  affairs,  and  for  a  time,  in  civil  concerns,  Deacon  Henry 
Gilbert  is  more  frequently  visible  ;  and  he  and  his  descendants 
may  justly  claim  an  estimable  preeminence  in  the  early  histo- 
ry of  the  town.  Their  ancestry  and  posterity  were  alike  honor- 
able. Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert,  seen  in  history  in  company  with 
Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  is  supposed  to  have  been  among  the  ances- 
tral connections. 

No  one  perusing  our  early  records  will  fail  to  see  that  Fos- 
ter and  Gilbert  bore  the  trusts  of  the  town  more  fully  by  far 
than  any  other  citizens.  We  esteem  that  to  be  the  highest  style 
of  citizen  manhood  which  gains  and  holds  the  affectionate  con- 
fidence of  the  worthiest  of  the  common  people  through  all  the 
tests  of  every-day  life  ;  and  at  the  same  time  finds  high  position 
given  to  it  among  eminent  statesmen,  jurists  and  scholars  of  the 
times.  Few  men  more  completely  unite  these  conditions  than 
Judge  Foster.  Let  an  illustration  of  each  class  suffice.  Some 
years  before  his  death  the  church  in  this  town  made  choice  of 
him  for  deacon, — "He  suspended  his  answer,"  say  the  records, 
"  till  the  church  consented  to  introduce  Tate  and  Brady's  Psalms, 
on  trial,  then  gave  it  in  the  affirmative."  Thus  he  achieved  a 
reform  in  that  proverbially  sensitive  part  of  public  worship,  the 
singing,  and  that  in  a  somewhat  stubborn  generation,  by  coupl- 
ing a  sacred  public  benefit  with  his  acceptance  of  a  humble  of- 
fice which  his  station  in  life  enabled  him  to  honor  by  accepting, 
rather  than  to  derive  honor  from  it. 


53 


The  othei'  illustration  : —  As  the  Provincial  Congi'ess  at  Phil- 
adelphia was  dispersing,  in  1775,  General  Washington  inquired 
who  were  the  Massachusetts  men  on  whom  he  could  especially 
rely  in  the  great  struggle  before  the  colonies.  Mr.  Foster  of 
Brookfield  was  named  among  others  as  one  to  whom  the  Com- 
mander-in-Chief could  confide  his  counsels,  and  from  whom  he 
could  expect  unwavering  fidelity  as  a  patriot.  A  man  so  mi- 
nutely careful  for  the  welfare  of  a  village  church,  and  so  wise 
in  advancing  its  prosperity,  and  so  beloved  by  them  ;  and  marked 
in  the  distant  council  chamber  of  the  comparatively  unacquaint- 
ed colonies  as  one  of  a  few  upon  whom  the  newly  chosen  chief 
could  place  special  trust,  presents  a  character  of  eminent  com- 
pleteness and  worth.  It  deserves  our  affectionate,  reverent 
honor.  We  ought  to  devise  some  memorial  to  keep  his  name 
on  the  lips  of  generations ;  some  broad  avenue,  some  prized 
school,  or  public  institution  dear  to  the  hearts  of  the  people  and 
rich  in  benefits  common  to  all. 

In  the  other  precinct,  the  North,  at  that  period,  the  names  of 
Ayers,  Bigelow,  Hale,  Gilbert,  Adams,  Witt,  Potter  and  others 
were  borne  by  men  of  comprehensive  enterprise,  and  of  great 
executive  force  of  character.  They  were  really  choice  men  for 
framing  the  precedents,  and  putting  in  motion  a  well-ordered 
and  efficient  town  life.  They  deserve  a  fuller  tribute  than  will 
ever  be  written  of  them. 

Passing  the  uneventful  lull,  which  followed  the  stormy  dozen 
years  in  which  date  the  division  of  the  town  into  three  precincts, 
— the  building  of  three  meeting-houses — the  dismission  of  one, 
and  the  settlement  of  three  new  ministers, — a  docket  of  lal)()rs 
deserving  a  period  of  repose — we  reach  the  first  recorded  tokens 
of  the  Revolution. 

May  17,  1773  a  meeting  was  iield.     Jedediah  Foster,  moder- 


54 

ator, — to  choose  a  cominittee  to  send  "  A  Letter  of  thanks  to 
the  Town  of  Boston  for  their  care  in  Stating  a  list  of  the  In- 
fringements and  Violations,  of  Rights  *  *  made  by  the  Court 
and  Parliament  of  Great  Britian,  and  to  show  that  the  town 
fully  concur  with  the  Town  of  Boston  in  Sentiment,  etc.'* 
Names  from  each  of  the  precincts  are  on  this  committee.  The 
letter,  doubtless  from  the  pen  of  Foster,  after  being  twice  read, 
was  recorded  on  the  books,  and  sent  to  Boston.  One  sentence  of 
this  letter  should  be  in  every  Brookfield  household.  "  This 
Town  will  ever  be  ready  to  assert,  and  in  every  legal  and  prop- 
er way  maintain  those  Rights  and  Liberties  for  our  children^ 
which  were  with  so  much  Labor,  Blood  and  Treasure,  purchased 
by  our  ancestors  whose  memory  is  and  ought  to  be  esteemed  by 
us." 

The  patriotism  of  the  entire  document  seems  at  this  distance 
almost  sublime.  It  would  touchingly  befit  a  town  meeting  dur- 
ing the  iniquitous  rebellion  raised  by  the  oppressors  at  this  day. 
December  27,  1773  a  meeting  was  held  and  two  letters  from 
the  town  of  Boston  were  read.  Foster,  Baldwin,  Rice,  Upham 
and  Gilbert,  were  chosen  to  consider  and  report  a  proper  re- 
solve relative  to  the  importation  of  tea  from  Great  Britian, 
"  And  such  other  matters  as  are  proper  for  this  town  to  do  at 
this  difficult  time." 

"  In  about  one  hour,"  the  committee  returned  and  reported, 
(after  preamble,)  "  we  think  it  our  indispensable  duty  in  the 
most  public  manner,  to  let  the  world  know  our  utter  abhorrence 
of  the  last  and  most  detestable  scheme  in  the  introduction  of  tea 
from  Gi'eat  Britain,  to  be  pedled  out  among  us,  by  which  means 
we  were  to  be  made  to  swallow  a  poison  more  fatal  in  its  effects 
to  the  natural  and  political  rights  and  privilege  of  the  people 
of  this  country  than  ratsbane  ivould  be  to  the  natural  body.''^ 


55 

Alas  for  the  China  sets,  the  pride  of  onr  mothers  !  This 
burst  of  pati-iotic  rhetoric,  however,  is  followed  by  sentences  of 
nobler  patriotism.  "  Loyalty  &  fidelity  to  our  most  gracious 
King,  George  the  Third,  &  due  obedience  to  the  governmeut 
under  him,  by  Divine  Providence  &  by  Law  established  in  this 
Province,  we  will  to  the  utmost  of  our  power  maintain  and  de- 
fend. An  uninterrupted  Friendship  &  Commerce  with  the 
Country  of  our  Fathers'  nativity,  we  wish  to  continue  to  the 
latest  Generation  ;  but  our  dear  bought  rights  Sf  privileges  we 
will  never  tamely  give  up.''  Further  on  they  say,  "  of  our 
dearest  civil  &  religious  privileges  when  wrested  from  us,  we 
shall  not  think  our  lives  and  property  too  much  to  be  spent  in 
their  defence  and  recovery."  The  self-denial  and  determined 
sacrifice  in  those  words,  prophesied,  as  they  deserved,  the  suc- 
cess which  crowned  the  wearisome  strife. 

In  May  1774,  another  letter,  much  like  the  former,  was  sent 
to  Boston.  "  June  21.  At  a  very  full  meeting  of  the  inhabit- 
ants,"— after  reading  several  letters  from  com-mittees  in  Boston 
and  Worcester, — three  citizens  were  deputed  "  to  wate  on  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Ward,  and  desire  him  to  attend  and  open  this  meet- 
ing with  prayer,  and  the  request  was  complied  with  in  a  very 
sollom  manner."  Letters  and  covenants  were  then  read  "  and 
long  debate  thereon."  A  number  of  persons  signed  the  cove- 
nants. A  committee  of  six  were  chosen  "  to  inspect  the  Traders 
of  this  Town  and  see  that  they  do  comply  with  the  covenants, 
and  to  see  that  every  person  had  the  offer  of  signing  the  cove- 
nant, and  also  to  take  care  that  pedlars  do  not  sell  any  goods  in 
this  Town." 

These  patriotic  town  meetings  were  frequent,  and  in  them 
instructions  to  Representatives  and  other  officers,  very  ably 
drawn;  correspondence   with  the  chief  towns,  and  local   com- 


56 


mittees,  all  show  the  presence  of  active  and  strong  leaders. 
Jedediah  Foster  was  chosen  Representative  to  General  Court, 
and  in  December  to  a  Provincial  Congress  to  be  held  at  Cam- 
bridge ;  and  at  the  same  meeting  "  Voted  unanimously,  that 
this  town  do  fully  approve  of  the  association  of  the  Continental 
Congress,  and  that  they  will  strictly  adhere  to  the  same  in  all 
respects."  Also  voted,  That  the  ministers  be  desired  to  notify 
contributions  for  the  Boston  sufferers,  and  David  Hitchcock, 
John  Baldwin,  and  Seth  Banister,  Jr.  (one  from  each  precinct,) 
were  chosen  to  receive  the  same  and  transport  them  to  Boston. 
A  corps  of  minute  men  was  resolved  on,  to  "  be  immediately 
equiped  with  an  effective  fire-arm,  cartridge  box,  knapsack,  and 
thirty  rounds  of  Powder  and  ball,"  and  that  they  should  "  take 
extraordinary  pains  to  acquire  the  skill  of  compleat  soldiers." 
These  were  in  addition  to  the  regularly  enrolled  militia.  Gen- 
erous provisions  for  paying  these  minute  men  for  training  time 
was  also  made.  A  curious  covenant,  as  'tis  styled,  was  drawn, 
to  which  one  enlisting  should  subscribe.  The  heart  of  the  town 
was  swelling  with  the  keen  throes  of  fear  and  determined  sac- 
rifice if  called  to  it,  in  the  coming  contest.  Town  meetings 
were  frequent,  and  "  long  debate,"  is  a  repeated  description  of 
them.  In  reverent  admiration  and  surprise,  we  come  upon  the 
records  of  a  meeting  held  May  22,  1776.  "  The  question  was 
asked  in  the  words  of  a  resolve  of  the  General  Court  whether 
this  Town  would  support  the  Hon'ble  Congress  in  the  measure 
if  they  for  our  liberty  should  see  fit  to  declare  the  colonies  In- 
dependent of  Great  Britain,  and  it  passed  in  the  affirmative  al- 
most unanimously. ""  Honor  to  the  Brookfield  patriots  !  Their 
declaration  of  Independence,  is  one  month  and  twelve  days 
older  than  that  of  the  Congress.  Foremost  in  declai'ing,  may 
they  be  the  last  in  resigning  or  betraying  the  priceless  Free- 
dom so  gloriously  won  ! 


57 

Near  the  close  of  this  year  (1776)  a  record  of  singular  in- 
terest occurs.  A  bounty  of  X60  is  levied  to  be  paid  for  "  one 
hundred  fire-arms  with  a  bayonet  affixed  thereto,  provided  they 
are  wholly  manufactured  in  this  town  within  one  year."  Where 
was  the  Brookfield  armory,  and  who  made  muskets  and  bayo- 
nets here  eighty-four  years  ago  ? 

At  the  March  meeting  next  year  (1777),  it  was  "  Voted, 
That  the  Town  may  wear  their  hats  excepting  when  they  speak 
in  publick  in  Town  meeting."  At  the  same  meeting  "  A  list 
of  the  price  of  articles  "  was  adopted.  These  lists,  common  to 
the  towns  at  that  time,  were  fatal  checks  to  speculators  and  mer- 
cenary plunderers  of  the  public  in  the  time  of  general  distress. 
A  few  of  the  items  will  repay  copying. 

"  Farming  labour, — from  the  20th  day  of  June,  to  the  20th 
day  of  August,  shall  not  exceed  3  shillings  per  day,  and  from 
the  20th  day  of  Nov'r  to  the  20th  day  of  Jan'y?  shall  not  ex- 
ceed Is.  Qd.  per  day.  Indian  corn  meal  shall  not  exceed  3s. 
per  B^,  good  grass-fed  beef  2|-  pence  per  lb.,  stall-fed  do.,  dd. 
Good  butter,  9^  pence  per  lb.,  firkin  do.,  8|  per  lb.  Good  yard 
wide  Tow  cloth  2s.  per  yard.  Striped  y'd  wide  flanel  3s.  4:d. 
Good  Walnut  wood  8  ft.  long,  8s.  per  cord.  Oak  do.,  7s., 
*'  each  cord  to  be  delivered  at  the  door  of  the  buyer."  "  A 
good  meal  of  meat  victuals  of  the  common  sort  shall  not  exceed 
9^/."  "  For  making  men's  shoes  shall  not  exceed  2s.  8d.  per 
pair."  "  A  Doctor  shall  not  exceed  6d,  (sixpence)  per  mile  in 
his  charge  in  travel  to  visit  his  Patience."  "  For  men's  com- 
mon boarding  by  the  week  shall  not  exceed  7s."  In  suggestive 
sagacity  the  prices  of  N.  E.  toddy  and  "  phlip  "  and  other 
strong  drinks  are  put  at  the  foot  and  most  obscure  part  of  the 
long  file,  as  if  they  were  the  last  articles  ever  to  be  needed  or 
bought.     Well   for  the  town   had  they   been   always  so.     How 


58 


long  this  municipal  protection  was  kept  in  force,  or  what  special 
good  came  from  it,  does  not  appear. 

But,  keeping  step  with  the  progress  of  freedom,  in  April, 
1777,  "  Voted,  That  the  inhabitants  of  this  town  will  not  only 
strictly  adliere  to  and  observe  the  act  of  the  General  Court 
called  the  Regulating  Act,  But  also  use  our  utmost  endeavors 
to  detect  and  bring  to  punishment  those  unfriendly  selfish  per- 
sons who  at  this  important  crisis  shall  have  the  effrontery  to 
counteract  the  good  and  wholesome  laws  of  this  State."  In 
November  of  this  year  a  committee  of  nine  persons  were  appoint- 
ed "  to  provide  for  the  families  of  the  non-commissioned  officers 
and  soldiers  that  are  in  the  Continental  Army."  The  next  year, 
March  25th,  1778,  "  Voted  to  accept  of  the  Confederacy  of  the 
Continental  Congress  and  to  enjoin  it  to  their  (our)  Represen- 
tatives that  they  consent  to  the  same."  And  in  the  same  ready 
mind,  the  next  year.  May  20th,  1779,  they  voted  for  a  State 
Convention  "  for  the  sole  purpose  of  forming  a  new  Constitu- 
tion." In  October  of  this  year,  a  shadow  spread  over  the  town 
in  the  death  of  the  Hon.  Judge  Foster.  From  the  beo-innino; 
of  the  great  era  of  struggle  for  National  Liberty,  he  is  con- 
stantly seen,  not  alone  presiding  over,  but  shaping  and  adminis- 
tering the  counsels  of  the  town.  The  public  mind  safely  trust- 
ed in  him  in  those  dark  hours,  and  with  eminent  wisdom  and 
fidelity  did  he  guide  the  confiding  people.  We  can  hardly  over- 
rate the  pressure  upon  the  inhabitants  at  that  time ;  one  man  in 
seven  in  the  North  precinct  had  been  drafted,  and  not  much 
different  could  it  have  been  through  all  the  town.  In  the  year 
1777,  they  voted  "  to  raise  no  money  for  schooling,"  so  far  spent 
was  their  revenue  ;  and  four  years  after,  they  were  obliged  to 
hire  money  to  equip  the  soldiers  before  they  could  leave  town 
for  the  aimy.     But  Divine  Providence  did  not  leave  the  people, 


59 

led  through  so  many  deliverances,  without  the  needed  leaders. 
The  year  of  his  father's  death,  Dwight  Foster, — born  in  Brook- 
field,  Dec.  7,  1757,  graduated  at  Brown  University  (1774,)  a 
lawyer  for  a  time  in  Providence,  R.  I., — returned  to  his  native 
town.  He  was  a  young  man  of  rare  promise  and  his  townsmen 
discerned  it.  At  the  town  meeting  in  May,  "  Voted  :  Mr. 
Dwight  Foster,  Moderator,  143  yeas  in  favor  of  the  new  Con- 
stitution and  11  against  it  !  "  This  curt  record  shows  his  first 
public  service, — the  highest  the  town  could  confer ;  and  at  al- 
most the  first  opportunity  after  his  return.  Reverence  for  the 
father  doubtless  quickened  the  heart  of  the  people  to  honor  the 
son.  It  was  an  auspicious  omen  to  preside  in  such  a  meeting  at 
the  outset  of  his  public  life  ;  and  three  weeks  later.  May  24,  he 
was  chosen  to  represent  the  town  in  General  Court.  He  was 
then  22  years  of  age.  At  the  same  meeting  a  long  and  states- 
man-like document  was  read,  said  to  be  in  his  handwriting.  It 
relates  to  the  ratification  and  adoption  of  the  Constitution  for 
the  State.  He  was  chosen  delegate  to  the  convention  held  in 
Boston  the  next  month,  "To  complete  the  Constitution  and 
Frame  of  Government."  His  great  eminence  came  from  labo- 
rious industry,  "  rising"  before  it  was  light  "  for  study.  He  was 
a  model  to  young  men,  in  method,  order,  promptness  and  the 
great  facility  in  the  management  of  business,  which  come  from 
it.  "  Though  of  delicate  and  uncertain  health  "  he  accomplish- 
ed much.  In  addition  to  the  honors  named,  he  was  the  succes- 
sor of  Judge  Sprague  in  the  office  of  High  Sheriff  of  the  Coun- 
ty,— Chief  Justice  of  the  Court  of  Common  pleas,  for  ten  years, 
— an  Elector  of  President  and  Vice  President  when  Washing- 
ton was  chosen  Chief  Magistrate  the  second  time, — a  member 
of  the  Governor's  Council, — a  Representative  in  Congress  from 
1793  to  1801,  and  a  Senator  during  the  two  succeeding  years. 


60 


He  died  April  29,  1823,  at  the  age  of  sixty-six.  Hon.  Jabez 
Upliam  shares  with  him  the  honors  of  representing  the  State  in 
Congress.  Mr.  Foster  alone  of  our  citizens,  had  a  seat  in  the 
Senate. 

In  1781,  the  town  was  districted  by  Parishes,  as  the  precincts 
are  thereafter  styled.  This  was  done  in  order  to  raise  soldiers 
for  three  years,  and  committees  were  chosen  to  enlist  and  hire 
men.  They  were  empowered  to  "  hire  such  sum  or  sums  of 
money  "  as  they  needed.  The  enlistment  of  Continental  soldiers 
was  a  work  of  conspicuous  concern  during  this  period. 

As  the  tasks  of  the  Revolution  were  ending,  the  new  ques- 
tions of  self-government  engaged  anxious  attention.  Entire 
pages  of  the  records  are  filled  with  reports  and  resolves  upon 
the  fundamental  question  of  civil  government.  Numerous  and 
elaborate  instructions  were  drawn  ap  for  representatives.  One 
is  "  To  the  Respectable  Capt.  Phinehas  Upham  our  Representa- 
tive." 

In  1784  the  representative  is  most  loyally  instructed  thus  — 
"  Thirdly,  It  is  the  opinion  of  this  Town  that  the  articles  of 
Confederation  and  perpetual  union  between  the  Thirteen  United 
States,  being  ratified  and  established  by  each  State  in  the  Union, 
are  solemnly  binding  on  the  several  Slates :  and  that  no  attempt 
ought  to  be  made  to  dissolve  or  weaken  the  same  ;  but  on  the 
other  hand  if  we  mean  to  support  our  dignity  as  a  nation,  every 
effort  ought  to  be  used  to  strengthen  the  Union  and  render  the 
Bonds  indissoluble.^^ 

This  specific  instruction  might  usefully  be  copied  for  not  a 
few  representing  the  people  at  this  day.  Infamy,  endless  infa- 
my be  on  the  heads  of  sons  who,  after  all  these  years  of  blessing, 
have  degenerated  to  traitors  to  the  noble  town-meeting  loyalty 
of  our  fathers. 


61 

In  1785,  a  division  of  the  county  was  urged  by  the  towns  in 
the  north  part.  A  long  and  able  protest  was  presented  against 
it  by  Foster,  Hall  and  Upham. 

The  Shays  rebellion  has  little  place  in  the  town  records. 
Many  of  the  citizens  served  as  soldiers,  and  the  rebel  leader  him- 
self had  served  as  a  hired  man  with  Daniel  Gilbert,  Esqr.,  in 
the  North  Parish. 

A  violent  attack  of  economy  was  experienced  by  the  town  in 
May  of  the  next  year.  "  Voted  :  That  the  person  who  shall  be 
chosen  to  represent  the  Town  shall  return  all  the  money's  he 
shall  receive  over  and  above  5d.  per  day  for  his  services  at  the 
General  Court,  exclusive  of  travelling  fees,  to  the  Treasurer  of 
said  Town  !  " 

In  1791,  the  question  of  dividing  the  county  again  returned, 
and  the  selectmen  of  eleven  adjacent  towns  were  to  be  invited 
to  call  meetings  in  those  towns  to  choose  committees  to  a  con- 
ference to  be  held  at  the  house  of  Joseph  Reed,  Esqr.  No  re- 
sult appears  on  the  records.  In  October  of  this  year  is  found 
the  first  recorded  warrant  for  a  meeting. 

In  1799,  an  article  in  the  Town  warrant  shows  that  Nicholas 

Jenks  and  others  had  prayed  to  be  incorporated  as  a  separate 

religious   (Baptist)   Society.     A  protest  was  voted  against  it, 

because  the  petition  was  in  its  principles  exceptionable  and  in  its 

operation  would  tend  to  the  injury  not  only  to  the  inhabitants 

aforesaid,  but  of  the  society  themselves.     It  states  the  "  o|)in- 

ion  that  the  rights  of  conscience  ought  ever  to  be  held  sacred, 

and  that  all  denominations  of  christians  demeaning  themselves 

peaceably  have  an  inalienable  right  of  worshiping  tlieir  Creator 

agreeably  to  its   dictates."     The  protest  failed  and  the  Bajjtist 

Church  and  Society   of   East   Brookfield  is  the  result  of  the 

petitioners  endeavor. 
6 


62 


Tlie  century  closed  under  the  shadow  of  that  great  national 
bereavement,  which  also  closed  an  era,  the  death  of  Washington. 
The  town  with  patriotic  reverence  called  its  eminent  citizen, 
Hon.  Pliny  Merrick,  to  pronounce  an  eulogy  on  the  beloved 
Father  of  his  Country  ;  for  which  service  done  on  the  22nd  of 
February  following,  he  received  "  the  thanks  of  the  inhabitants," 
with  the  request  of  a  copy  for  publication. 

This  century  of  town-life  beginning  as  it  did,  amid  savage 
tragedies ;  the  settlement  in  the  wilderness  far  from  neighbors  ; 
with  no  extended  natural  feature,  like  sea  coast,  great  river,  or 
national  road,  and  with  no  surpassing  soil,  or  forests,  or  mines, 
was  yet  a  remarkably  prosperous  century. 

Superior  personal  character  can  safely  be  claimed  for  many 
of  the  early  settlers.  Their  enterprise,  wisdom  and  culture, 
gave  the  town  a  memorable  eminence  among  the  sister  settle- 
ments which,  before  the  close  of  the  century,  surrounded  it. 
The  names  of  Gilbert,  Foster,  Hale,  Merrick,  Crosby,  Upham, 
Ayres,  Reed,  Hamilton  and  Hitchcock,  are  set  in  our  early  his- 
tory by  counsels,  acts  and  beneficent  public  influence,  which 
would  adorn  any  annals  and  ensure  success  to  any  rising  settle- 
ment. These  are  but  a  part  of  the  names  that  claim  the  grateful 
esteem  of  the  posterity  enriched  by  their  endurance,  wisdom  and 
sacrifice.  Each,  family  discerned  through  the  deepening  shadows 
now  settling  on  them,  seems  almost  entitled  to  special  mention. 
The  municipal  acquirements  found  among  our  fathers  rather 
surprise  us.  No  roads,  bridges,  or  large  city  from  which  to 
bring  the  implements  or  fruits  of  mechanism  aided  them.  Until 
about  the  close  of  the  former  century  not  a  wheel  vehicle  had 
passed  from  the  River  to  Boston.  On  horseback  all  riding  was 
done  ;  and  as  horses  were  few,  the  roads  blind,  crooked,  rough 
and  perilous,  travel  was  slow  and  infrequent.     A  short  distance 


63 

made  a  lono;  ancl  perilous  journey.  We  wonder  at  the  rapids 
not  at  the  slow  growth  of  the  town.  The  century  had  been 
truly  a  prosperous  one.  The  town  was  well  advanced  in  cul- 
ture and  mechanic  arts  at  the  close  of  it.  "  Seven  grist-mills, 
six  saw-mills  and  three  fulling-mills,"  were  counted  in  it  ten 
years  before  the  new  century  began.  "  Mr.  Jenks,"  says  an 
annalist,  "  besides  his  mills  prosecutes  the  blacksmiths'  business 
largely,  and  has  two  trip-hammers  and  a  grindstone  carried  by 
water."  "  Ellis  &  Company,"  he  adds,  "  annually  dress  about 
5000  yards  of  cloth  at  their  works."  They  had  reached  the  art 
of  coloring  scarlet,  equal  to  that  imported,  "  an  art  which  few 
in  this  commonwealth  have  attained  unto."  Earlier  is  narrated 
the  establishment  of  "  one  of  the  first  wollen  factories  ever  at- 
tempted in  this  country  "  by  Joshua  Upham  in  1768,  and  the 
bounty  offered  for  one  hundred  muskets  manufactured  in  the 
town,  show  a  remarkable  advance  in  those  trades.  Watches 
were  made  in  the  South  parish  by  Mr.  Ephraim  Kingsbury, 
about  1799,  several  yeai's  before  they  were  made  in  Worcester. 
Mr.  Cyrus  Dean,  now  living  in  Brookfield,*  learned  his  trade  of 
that  watchmaker,  and  still  occupies  the  original  shop.  A  Print- 
ing Press  was  set  up  here  by  Isaiah  Thomas  of  Worcester  in 
1794,  "  a  Printing  House  and  Bookstore,"  he  termed  it.  In 
connection  with  an  apprentice  named  Waldo,  a  newspaper  was 
offered  to  the  public  in  September  of  that  year,  called  "  The 
Worcester  Intellisencer  or  Brookfield  Advertiser."  This  name 
gave  place  to  "  The  Moral  and  Political  Telegraph  or  Brook- 
field Advertiser."  The  ownership  and  title  were  again  chang(;d 
to  "  The  Political  Repository  and  Farmer's  Journal,  by  E. 
Merriam  &  Co.,  1798."     But  a  short  life  was  the  portion  of  the 

*  While  these  pages  are  in  press,  Mr.  Dean  died  at  Brookfield,  August  20th, 
1866,  aged  83  years. 


64 


varied  experiment.  Tlie  editors  strangely  overlooked  local 
news  ;  or  what  are  now  items  of  interest  have  only  brief  men- 
tion. Thus: — "Tuesday,  March,  26,  1799,  the  President  of 
the  United  States  lodged  in  this  town,  on  Thursday  night  last, 
on  his  way  to  his  seat  in  Quincy."  No  more  is  said.  A  re- 
publican quietness  toward  dignity,  truly  !  The  numbers  I  have 
seen  relate  very  little  of  affairs  in  the  town  or  region.  The 
"  business  and  bosoms  "  of  the  inhabitants  are  very  dimly  visible 
in  the  columns.  The  letters  by  Post,  however,  are  all  publish- 
ed. The  office  here  served  for  people  in  Paxton,  Hardwick, 
New  Braintree  and  all  the  Brookfields,  and  even  then  the  week- 
ly list  is  smaller  than  some  single  establishments  now  receive  in 
as  many  days.  To  the  honor  of  the  newspaper,  an  enterprising 
article,  a  column  in  length,  is  found  in  1799,  advocating  and 
projecting  a  canal  from  Worcester  to  Providence,  R.  I.  Thirty 
years  after,  the  vision  became  a  reality.  But  though  the  news- 
paper failed,  the  printing  did  not.  Ebenezer  Merriam  carried 
on  the  business  of  printing  books,  etc.,  for  fifty  years,  dying  in 
1858,  at  the  age  of  80.  That  "  Printing  House  and  Bookstore  " 
were  educators  for  all  the  region.  Many  of  us  remember  the 
curioue  awe  felt  as  we  walked  by  the  long,  low,  old  and  unpaint- 
ed  "  Printing  House."  A  mystery  which  stimulated  the  finest 
aspirations  of  young  and  growing  minds  was  upon  it.  Well  do 
I  remember  how  precious  a  single  capital  P  was  esteemed,  which 
a  lad  had  brought  from  the  "  house."  The  spirit  of  knowledge 
seemed  to  lurk  in  the  dull  lead.  The  town  is  indebted  to  the 
enterprising  man  who  kept  that  humble  lamp  burning  here 
through  all  those  years,  and  in  addition  to  all  other  benefits, 
trained  and  sent  from  it,  that  trio  of  sons  who  have  put  the 
whole  English  speaking  world  under  obligations  by  their  grand 
enterprize,  the  publication  of  their  unrivalled   Dictionary  of  the 


65 

English  Language,  by  Noah  Webster  !  Their  successor  in  the 
art  may  be  creating  obhgations  on  posterity  by  framing  into  the 
printed  page  the  records  you  are  now  perusing,  grateful  reader. 

For  the  early  settlers,  there  were  but  few  physical  comforts. 
The  stern  necessities  of  life  were  very  scantily  softened  in  their 
pressure  by  what  we  term  comforts.  Coarse  was  their  fare, 
rough  and  scanty  their  garb,  and  very  rude  their  dwellino-s. 
What  to  us  would  be  extremely  plain  food  was  nearly  luxury  to 
them.  The  scarcity  of  cattle  made  meat  uncommon  in  the  diet 
of  the  early  inhabitants.  And  groceries,  as  we  term  them,  could 
scarcely  have  been  known.  Birch  bark  for  paper  and  a  decoc- 
tion of  alder  bark  for  ink,  was  the  outfit  of  many  a  brave  boy 
and  sprightly  girl  even  after  schools  were  established  by  law. 
Through  all  the  earlier  years  an  overshadowing  dread  oppressed 
the  dwellers.  Memory  and  imagination  thronged  with  visions 
of  lurking  Indians,  and  the  boundless  forests  on  every  side  of 
them  was  indeed  "  a  land  shadowing  with  wings."  The  howl 
of  the  wild  animal,  the  inexplicable  sounds  and  sights  coming 
from  the  unpathed  woods,  and  the  fabulous  terrors  told  over, 
in  the  grim,  cavernous  chimney  corners,  all  conspired  in  diffusing 
a  secret  and  oppressive  dread.  It  was  a  century  of  ghostly 
tales.  The  traces  of  an  old  cellar  are  still  visible,  where  dwelt 
a  reputed  witch  whose  incantations  were  credulously  recited  in 
my  boyhood.  It  was  in  a  wild  forest  far  from  other  dwellings. 
Imaginative  and  irreligious  people  felt  those  delusions  more  than 
others. 

But  an  intensified  social  dependence  and  confidence  in  each 
other,  brought  some  compensating  reliefs.  Neighbors  valued 
each  other  in  a  manner  unknown  to  us.  They  cared  for,  pro- 
tected and  loved  one  another,  and  had  the  rewards  of  it.  Few 
families  were  blighted  by  drunkenness  or  by  any  vice.     A  drunk- 


66 


ard,  or  a  broken  character  was  an  abhorred  anomaly,  we  be- 
lieve, for  the  first  fifty  years.  Life,  too,  was  long  and  vigorous. 
In  1782,  a  Mr.  Green,  above  90  years  of  age  followed  his  fifth 
child,  a  woman  in  her  62d  year,  above  four  miles  to  her  grave, 
"  riding  erect  and  steady  on  a  lively  horse."  He  died  in  New 
Hampshire,  above  100  years  old.  In  the  same  year,  1782,  died 
in  this  town,  Elizabeth  Olds,  in  her  92d  year.  She  counted  10 
children,  73  grand-children,  201  great-grand-children,  and  two 
of  the  fifth  generation  ;  two  of  her  daughters  being  grand- 
mothers, making  a  total  of  her  descendants  286  ;  and  of  these 
all  but  54,  or  232  were  living  at  the  time  of  her  decease.  About 
the  time  above  mentioned,  the  last  survivor,  as  was  supposed, 
of  Lovewell's  fight  of  May  8,  1725,  was  living  here,  Mr. 
Thomas  Ainsworth.     He  died  January  1794,  aged  85. 

These  narrations  suggest  another  feature  of  our  towns, — the 
burying  places.  The  world  over,  parcels  of  ground  devoted  as 
resting  places  for  the  dead,  are  found ;  though  in  many  neigh- 
borhoods the  less  secure  and  less  natural  mode  of  private  or 
home  lots  are  seen  ;  and  generally  from  change  of  occupants, 
fallen  into  unsightly  neglect,  or  on  their  way  to  it.  Such  a 
burial  place  is  scarce  to  be  found  in  the  original  Brookfield.  In 
the  true  friendliness  of  fellow  mortality,  dust  mingles  with  dust 
in  common  grave-yards,  rather  than  in  selfish,  isolated  little  en- 
closures scattered  over  all  the  lands.  The  place  of  the  earliest 
burials  here  is  not  known.  Tradition  indicates  that  it  was  near 
a  road  connecting  the  Foster  Hill  with  the  main  road  east  of  the 
meeting  house.  An  aged  citizen,  Mr.  Pelatiah  Hitchcock,  who 
deceased  some  years  ago,  was  accustomed  to  point  out  the  graves 
of  the  six  men,  (slain  in  1710,  in  the  meadow  Northeast  of  the 
present  Railroad  station,)  near  the  entrance  to  what  is  known 
as  the  old  burying  ground.     Two   men  killed   by  the   Indians 


67 

between  West  and  North  Brookfield  are  said  to  have  been  the 
first  buried  thei'e.  One  tradition  is,  that  the  six  men  were 
buried  there  because  the  fog  concealed  the  procession,  as  people 
gathered  to  bury  them,  from  the  Indians.  This  may  have 
determined  the  site  to  that  ground  ;  but  the  reapings  of  death 
for  nearly  fifty  years  before,  must  have  made  some  common 
garner  needful,  and  so  distinct  as  to  be  discernable  till  now.  On 
this  account  I  doubt  the  tradition  found  in  the  "  Historical  Dis- 
course," and  mentioned  above.  The  "  old  ground  "  was  prob- 
ably i\ve  first  and  only  ground.  There  was  no  such  dispersion 
as  the  note  referred  to  supposes.  Inhabitants  were  here  all  the 
time,  and  graves  perpetually  mark  the  dwelling  places  of  men. 
Through  the  entire  forty  years  preceeding  the  last  century,  the 
livino;  were  here,  and  death  was  doing  its  work  amonor  them. 

"  At  a  legal  meeting  of  the  inhabitants  of  Brookfield,  on  the 
twenty-fifth  day  of  October,  1756,  Cap'.  Nathaniel  Woolcot, 
Mod''.  Voted  that  five  acres  be  staked  out  for  a  Burying  place 
in  the  Ministry  Lott." 

"  Voted  that  the  Selectmen  be  a  Committee  to  stake  out  said 
five  acres." 

"  On  Monday  y^  17  day  of  April  1760  (adjourned  to  the 
27th)  Voted  to  accept  the  plan  of  five  acres  as  it  was  staked 
out  by  the  Committee  and  planned  by  Mr.  James  Whitcomb, 
Surveyor  ;  and  ordered  that  it  be  put  into  the  book  of  Records. 
Said  five  acres  to  be  for  a  burying  place." 

There  is  in  the  book  a  Surveyor's  sketch,  with  the  boundary 
marks  given. 

In  the  warrant  for  the  March  meeting,  1808,  the  fifteenth 
article  is  as  follows  : 

"  To  see  if  the  town  will  fence  the  Burial  ground  in  the  third 
Precinct  or  grant  the  Land  to  the  said  3rd  Precinct  and  allow 


68 


them  the  rents  now  due,  upon  condition  that  any  individual  of 
said  Town  may  make  use  of  the  same  ;  or  otherwise  to  do  and 
act  upon  said  subject  as  they  shall  think  proper." 

Voted  to  refer  the  substance  of  this  article  to  Messrs.  Thomas 
Hale,  Esqr.,  John  Gleason  and  Lt.  Rufus  Hamilton  as  a  Com 
mittee." 

March  13,  1809.  "  Voted  to  accept  the  report  of  Committee 
respecting  the  Burial  Ground  belonging  to  this  Town,  and  that 
Capt.  Simeon  Draper,  Lt.  Jason  Bigelow,  Lt.  Robert  Cutler  be 
a  Committee  to  spend  the  money  now  due  for  Rents  of  said 
Burial  ground  in  building  and  repairing  the  fence  of  said  Burial 
ground." 

The  following  is  the  report  referred  to  in  the  4th  article  of 
the  warrant.  (The  article  under  which  the  above  vote  was 
passed.) 

"  We,  the  subscribers,  being  appointed  by  the  Inhabitants  of 
the  Town  of  Brookfield  a  Committee  to  take  into  consideration 
the  Propriety  of  the  Towns  fencing  the  burial  ground  in  the 
3rd  Parish  in  said  Town,  or  grant  the  said  burial  ground  to  the 
said  3rd  Parish  with  the  Rents  which  may  be  now  due  to  said 
Town,  agreeable  to  an  article  in  the  warrant  for  March  meet- 
ing, 1808.  Your  Committee  having  attended  to  the  business  of 
their  appointment,  ask  leave  to  report  as  our  Opinion  that  it  is 
not  expedient  to  grant  the  said  burial  ground  to  the  Inhabitants 
of  s^  3rd  Parish,  as  there  are  many  People  in  the  other  Parishes 
that  have  buried  their  Friends  in  said  ground.  But  we  would 
further  report  as  our  opinion  that  the  Town  should  as  soon  as 
may  be  convenient  compleat  a  good  Wall  adjoining  the  post 
Road  and  make  a  good  and  convenient  gate  for  People  to  pass 
and  repass  to  said  burial  ground  and  also  to  rebuild  so  much  of 


69 


the  Fence  on  the  East  side  of  said  burial  ground,  as  may  be 
compleated  with  the  Rents  now  due,  and  the  Remainder  as  soon 
as  the  Rents  may  be  sufficient  for  the  Purpose,  which  is  sub- 
mitted. 

Thomas   Hale, 
Rufus    Hamilton, 
March  13,  1809.  John  Gleason. 

N.  B.     We  find  due  to  the  Town,  $33. 

The  affairs  of  the  present  century  properly  belong  to  the  Tri- 
centeniiial  orator.  I  will  not  much  invade  his  field.  Civilly, 
the  main  events  are  the  erection  of  the  three  precincts^  of  the 
former  century,  into  ilii-ee  towtiships.  North  Brookfield,  the 
first  to  separate  parochially,  came  first  to  separate  town  estate. 
The  first  recorded  movement  for  it,  is  a  petition,  not  very  strong- 
ly drawn,  or  honorably  signed,  dated  June  2d,  1810.  It  failed. 
The  next  year,  a  much  fuller  and  more  suitable  petition,  per- 
suaded the  Legislature  to  constitute  the  precinct  a  town.  The 
act  passed  February  27,  1812.  The  fortunes  of  a  political  par- 
ty were  so  much  dependent  on  the  success  of  the  plan,  that  they 
helped  it  forward  very  efficiently.  The  Great  Ruler  had  ends 
as  hio-h  above  theirs,  as  the  heavens  are  above  these  hills.  He 
has  been  and  is  making  those  ends  sure.  They  foiled,  in  the 
first  party  trial  after  the  act.  The  first  town  meeting  was  hold 
Tuesday,  March  10,  1812.  Daniel  Gilbert,  Esq.,  was  Modera- 
tor, Moses  Bond,  Town  Clerk. 

Immediate  prosperity  smiled  on  the  new  Town.  The  manu- 
facture of  shoes  for  distant  markets  began  near  this  time,  quick- 
ening all  the  pulses  of  industry  ;  busying  many  hands  before 
idle  ;  making  a  market  for  produce  of  the  soil,  before  unsaleable, 
and  by  growing  resources  diffusing  the  culture  and  comforts  of 
life  to  an  extent  reached  in  but  few  towns.     Many   young  men 


70 

were  drawn  from  other  towns  and  states,  giving  numbers,  ener 
e;y  and  character  to  the  town,  which  have  raised  it  to  a  praise- 
worthy rank  among  her  neighbors.  Its  late  patriarch  pastor, 
Thomas  Snell,  D.  D.,  pubhshed  several  narratives  of  town  and 
parish  history ;  a  sermon  on  the  fortieth  anniversary  of  his 
settlement  June  24, 1838  ;  a  sermon  on  the  fiftieth  anniversary 
of  his  settlement  June  27,  1848 ;  a  Historical  Sketch  of  the 
Town,  May  28,  1850  ;  a  Discourse,  containing  an  Historical 
Sketch  of  the  First  Congregational  Church  in  North  Brookfield 
one  hundred  years  from  its  organization.  May  28,  1852.  The 
local  history  of  the  town  has  hence  been  quite  well  cared  for, 
and  will,  we  trust,  be  more  so  in  future. 

In  1848,  the  two  remaining  parishes  after  a  companionship  of 
nearly  a  century,  took  each,  the  forms  of  a  separate  township. 
Both  held  their  first  town  meetings  March  27,  1848.  In  the 
orio-inal  settlement,  thenceforth  known  as  West  Brookfield, 
Alanson  Hamilton  presided  at  the  first  meeting,  Jacob  Dupee 
was  chosen  Town  Clerk.  This  meeting  was  opened  with  prayer 
by  Rev.  Leonard  S.  Parker,  then  pastor.  In  Brookfield,  Alfred 
Rice  was  the  first  Moderator,  and  Washington  Tufts  the  first 
Town  Clerk. 

Thus  the  ancient  Quaboag,  first  a  glimmering  plantation,  its 
light  almost  put  out  in  blood  ere  its  infancy  was  passed  ;  then  a 
trio  of  precincts  or  ecclesiastical  municipalities,  showing  that 
religion  preceeded  in  importance  all  other  public  concerns  ;  these 
parishes  then  ripening  into  townships,  thus  completed  in  two  cen- 
turies the  progress  from  the  most  elemental,  to  the  maturest 
forms  of  civilized  life  under  republican  institutions.  Through  a 
wasting  and  very  critical  revolution,  through  much  internal,  as 
well  as  public  conflict,  the  ancestry  and  the  posterity  kept  alive 
the  spirit  and  form  of  true  freedom  and  the  simple  church  polity 


n 

which  shaped  and  educated  that  freedom.  The  plain  vital  doc- 
trines of  the  gospel  have'  been  preached  ;  taught  in  families,  in 
sabbath  schools,  and  in  the  social  intercourse  of  the  people  ;  and 
patriotism,  education,  peaceful  and  cultured  social  life  have 
been  the  visible  results. 

Reverently  v^^e  listen  to  the  whisper  of  our  forefathers  as  the 
poet  utters  it : 

*'  Blood  of  ours  is  on  the  meadow, 
Dust  of  ours  is  in  the  soil, 
But  no  tablet  casts  a  shadow 

Where  we  slumber  from  our  toil." 

But  better  than  any  tablet  with  its  shadow,  shall  be  the 
monument  of  our  unfaltering  fidelity  to  the  religious  and  civil 
principles  which  made  them  the  men  they  were,  and  which  as 
faithfully  cherished  by  us  as  by  them,  will  make  us  worthy  of 
them. 

You  will  expect  me  to  recall  a  group  of  three  reverend  men 
whose  lives  and  toils  so  remarkably  interblend  on  this  soil,  and 
in  the  yet  unwritten  history  of  this  generation.  I  mean  the 
pastors  Fiske,  Snell  and  Stone.  Hand  in  hand  they  are  seen 
together  through  the  larger  half  of  this  century,  (the  wives  too 
of  their  youth  beside  them),  until  the  last  in  the  group  had 
added  to  our  historic  treasures  his  half-century  sermon.  Tiieir 
last  meeting  was  in  the  pulpit  of  the  second  in  order  of  age  and 
settlement  (now  the  sole  survivor*)  at  the  installation  of  his 
colleague,  Rev.  Mr.  Cushino;.  In  the  relimous  life  under  their 
ministries  in  the  service  of  Christ, — in  schools, — in  domestic 
culture,  in  awaking  and  forming  the  mind  of  this  generation, 
who  can  estimate  their  beneficent  influence. 

♦Thomas  Snell,  D.  D.,  died  May  4,  18G2,  aged  87.  John  Fiske,  D.  D.,  died 
March  15,  1855,  aged  84.  Rev.  Micah  Stone  died  September  21,  1852,  in  the 
82nd  year  of  his  age. 


72 


The  profound  Edmund  Burke  said  "  when  ancient  opinions 
and  rules  of  life  are  taken  away,  the  loss  cannot  possibly  be 
estimated."  It  behooves  us  to  be  mindful  lest  the  removal  of 
our  "  ancient  men  "  effects  the  extinction  of  "  ancient  opinions 
and  rules  of  life." 

As  we  began — so  will  we  close — thankfully  accepting  the 
welcome  we  find  and  feel  from  each  other,  from  all  the  past, 
and  from  the  scenes  amid  which  we  assemble. 

An  eminent  poet,  who  in  his  boyhood,  dwelt  in  the  parsonage 
at  North  Brookfield  for  a  time  as  a  pupil  to  his  uncle,  the  pastor 
abovenamed,  has  woven  into  verse  for  another  like  occasion,  the 
story  of  this  observance. 

"  Two  hundred  times  has  June  renewed 

Her  roses,  since  the  day 
When  here,  amid  the  lonely  wood 
Our  fathers  met  to  pray. 

Beside  this  gentle  stream,  that  strayed 

Through  pathless  woodlands  then. 
The  calm  heroic  women  prayed 

And  grave,  undaunted  men. 

Hymns  on  the  ancient  silence  broke 

From  hearts  that  faltered  not. 
And  undissembling  lips  that  spoke 

The  free  and  guileless  thought. 

They  prayed,  and  thanked  the  Mighty  One 

Who  made  their  hearts  so  strong. 
And  led  them  towards  the  setting  sun, 

Beyond  the  reach  of  wrong. 

For  them  He  made  that  desert  place 

A  pleasant  heritage, — 
The  cradle  of  a  free  born  race 

From  peaceful  age  to  age. 

The  plant  they  set — a  little  vine — 
Hath  stretched  its  boughs  afar, 


73 

To  distant  hills  and  streams  that  shine 
Beneath  the  evening  star. 

Ours  are  their  fields, — these  fields  that  smile 

With  summer's  early  flowers  : 
()h,  let  their  fearless  scorn  of  guile 

And  love  of  truth,  be  ours  !  " 

Ode  by  W.  C.  Bryant,  Esq.,  for  the  Bi-Centennial  Celebration  at  Hadley,  June 
,  1859. 


APPENDIX. 


THE  TWO  CELEBRATIONS. 

An  observance  preliminary  to  that  of  1860,  was  held  July  3d,  1858. 
The  call  to  it,  and  the  Report  of  it  in  the  Boston  Journal  of  July  5, 
1858,  preserve  the  essential  record  and  incidents  of  it. 

Bbookfield,  Mass.  ,  May  22d,  1858. 
Dear  Sir:    The  undersigned,  a  Committee  appointed  for  the  purpose,  by 
the  citizens  of  Brookfieid,  North  Broolifield,  and  West  Brookfield,  respectfully 
invite  you,  with  your  family,  to  join  us  on  Saturday,  the  third  of  July  next, 
for  the  purpose  of  meeting  your  old  friends  of  this  ancient  town,  and  partic- 
ipating with  them  in  the  celebration  of  our  National  Independence. 
Hon.  PLINY  MEERICK,  of  Boston, 
Hon.  DWIGHT  FOSTER,  of  Worcester, 
SIMEON  DRAPER,  Esq.  ,  of  New  York, 
HON.  AMASA  WALKER  of  NorCh  Brookfield. 
and  others,  will  address  us  on  the  occasion.    We  are  also  assured  of  a  Poem, 
by  Hon.  CHARLES  THURBER,  of  Worcester. 

Dinner  will  be  provided  under  a  large  tent,  at  one  o'clock — Tickets,  $L 
Should  any  of  your  friends  who  feel  an  interest  in  this  meeting  fail  to  re- 
ceive an  invitation,  we  will  be  obliged  to  you  if  you  will  extend  one  to  them  in 
our  behalf,  as  it  is  our  wish  that  there  should  be  a  general  attendance  of  all 
connected  with  Brookfield,  either  by  birth,  former  residence,  or  marriage. 

One  object  of  the  proposed  re-union  is  to  make  preliminary  arrangements 
for  a  Celebration  of  the  Two-hundredth  Anniversary  of  the  Settlement  of 
this  Town,  which  occurs  in  May,  1860. 

In  order  to  make  necessary  preparation  for  the  dinner,  we  will  thaTik  you 
for  an  early  reply,  (directed  to  the  Chairman  of  the  Brookfield  Committee,) 
giving  the  names  of  such  persons  as  may  wish  to  join  in  the  festivities  of  the 
occasion. 


76 


We  add,  that  frequent  trains  of  cars,  upon  the  Western  R.  E.  will  stop  at 
this  place  during  the  day  and  evening. 

We  have  the  honor  to  be 

Very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servants, 


AARON   KIMBALL 
FRANCIS    HOWE 
LKWia   ABBOTT 
S.  W.  BANISTKR 
PKIiLEY    STEVENS 
LUTHER   STOWELL 
OLIVER   0.    FELTON 
CALVIN   JENNINGS 
OTIS   IIAYDEN 
EMMOXS  TWICIIELL 
ALFRED   RICE 


AMASA   WALKER 
DANIEL   WHITING 
HIRAM   EDSON 
CHARLES   DUNCAN 
WILLIAM   ADAMS 
GEORGE  H.    LOWE 
ROYAL   nCKARD 
EZRA    BATCHELLER 
LYSANDER   BREWER 
JAMES  H.  HILL 
BONUM   NYE 


ALANSON  HAMILTON 
NATHANIEL    LYNDE 
EBENEZER  MERRIAM 
JOHN  M.  FALES 
AUGUSTUS   MAKEPEACE 
EBENEZER   FAIRBANKS 
DAVID  B.  GLEASON 
DAVID  L.  MORRIL 
RAYMOND   CUMMINGS 
GEORGE  W.  LINCOLN 
WARREN  A.  BLAIR. 


ANNIVERSARY   OF    AMERICAN    INDEPENDENCE 
BROOKFIELD. 

[From  the  Boston  Journal.July  5,  1858.] 


IN 


The  town  of  Brookfield,  in  the  southwest  part  of  Worcester  county,  and  on 
the  line  of  the  Western  Railroad,  was  the  earliest  settled  township  in  that 
county,  or  between  Marlboro'  on  the  East,  and  Springfield  on  the  West.  It 
was  settled  by  a  company  from  Cape  Ann,  under  a  grant  dated  May  20,  1660. 
In  the  revolutionary  period,  Brookfield  was  a  town  of  much  note  in  that  part 
of  the  State ;  but  though  now  a  town  of  much  enterprise  and  thrift,  it  has 
been  outstripped  by  other  towns  possessing  inferior  natural  advantages,  and 
settled  long  after  the  date  of  the  Brookfield  grant.  The  old  town  has  been 
divided  into  three — Brookfield,  North  Brookfield,  and  West  Brookfield — con- 
taining a  population  of  2007,  2307,  and  1363,  respectively. 

A  grand  union  celebration  of  these  divisions  of  "  the  good  old  town  "  was 
held  on  Saturday,  the  3d  instant — one  object  of  which  was  to  pave  the  way 
for  the  celebration  of  the  two  Inmdredth  anniversary  of  the  settlement  of  the 
town  in  1660,  for  which  extensive  preparations  are  even  now  set  on  foot,  in 
the  collection  of  all  interesting  facts  that  can  be  gleaned  from  the  ancient 
records  of  the  town. 

Many  men  distinguished  in  the  various  walks  of  life  were  born  in  Brook- 
field, and  a  large  number  from  diflerent  parts  of  the  county  were  present  on 
this  occasion. 

The  morning  of  the  festival  day  opened  very  Lnauspiciously ;  and  the  thun- 
dering of  cannon  and  ringing  of  bells  awoke  the  inhabitants  to  find  the  rain 
falling,  with  but  faint  promise  of  cessation,  without  regard  to  the  important 
and  interesting  jubilee  on  the  programme.  Much  disappointment  was  felt, 
and  some  delay  was  occasioned  by  this ;  and  the  number  of  returning  wan- 
derers by  the  morning  trains  was  doubtless  considerably  decreased.  Delega- 
tions from  the  railroad  station,  and  from  the  country  around,  including  the 
American  Engine  Company  from  West  Brookfield,  and  the  Bay  State  Engine 
Company,  and  the  Challenge  (a  juvenile  company)  from  East  Brookfield, 
were  received  by  the  Cataract  Company,  of  Brookfield,  accompanied  by  Bond's 


77 

Cornet  Band  of  Boston.  The  churches  were  thrown  open,  and  many  took 
shelter  in  them  until  the  rain  was  over.  A  flag-staff  had  been  erected  on 
the  Common  the  previous  day,  170  feet  high,  expressly  for  this  occasion,  and 
the  streamer  from  its  top  was  anxiously  watched  until  the  wind  was  declared 
to  be  in  a  safe  quarter.  About  eleven  o'clock  the  rain  ceased,  and  the  day 
thenceforward  went  on  successfully.  The  word  "  WELCOME "  was 
stretched  across  the  principal  street.  Several  other  devices,  which  had  been 
ordered,  had  not  been  received.  At  half-past  twelve  the  procession  was 
formed  in  the  following  order : 

Geo.  E.  Clapp.  Esq.,  Chief  Marshal. 
Aids — Tyler  Hosman  and  Henry  L.  Mellen. 

FIKST  DIVISION. 

Bond's  Cornet  Band — 20  pieces. 

Cataract  Engine  Company  of  Broolcfield,  Capt.  Austin  H.  Moulton — 50  men. 

Committee  of  Brookfleld. 

Speakers  and  guests. 
Citizens  generally. 

SECOND   DIVISION. 

American  Engine  Company,  West  Brookfleld,  Cftpt.  C.  B.  Sanford — 33  men. 

Committee  of  West  Brookfleld. 

West  Brookfleld  Glee  Club. 

Citizens  Generally. 

THIRD   DIVISION. 

Committee  of  North  Brookfleld. 

President,  Vice  Presidents,  Chaplain,  &c. 

Guests — Citizens  Generally. 

FOtJKTn   DIVISION. 

Bay  State  Engine  Company,  East  Brookfleld,  Capt.  C.  K.  Willar*~-30  men. 

Challenge  Engine  Company,  (juvenile),  Bast  Brookfleld — Capt.  Emory  J.  Nichols — 16  boy8. 

Guests  and  Citizens. 

The  procession  marched  through  the  pi'incipal  streets,  making  a  good  ap- 
pearance, and  returned  to  the  Common,  where  they  were  joined  by  the  ladies, 
and  from  thence  proceeded  to  the  Tent,  where  dinner  had  been  provided. 

Tlie  Dinner  In  tlie  Tent. 

Tale's  mammoth  tent,  240  feet  long  and  95  feet  wide,  had  been  erected  on 
an  elevated  situation  near  the  village,  commanding  a  fine  view  of  the  sur- 
rounding country,  in  which  the  richly  cultivated  farms  of  intervale  and  high 
land,  the  Quaboag  river  and  the  Podunc  pond,  and  various  interesting  locali- 
ties blend  to  form  one  of  the  richest  views  in  the  interior  of  Massachusetts. 
Dinner  had  been  provided  for  twelve  hundred  people,  and  the  arrangements 
for  that  number  had  been  carried  out  in  a  highly  creditable  manner  by  Mr. 
E.  B.  Shaw  of  Palmer,  the  caterer  of  the  occasion.  Seventeen  tables  were 
arranged  across  the  tent,  besides  which  an  elevated  table  in  front  of  the 
Speakers'  stand  was  provided — occupied  by  the  speakers  and  invited  guests. 
The  tables  were  prettily  laid,  and  amply  provided  with  substantial  provisions 
and  ornamented  with  bouquets  and  small  flags.  The  tent  was  quite  exten- 
sively decorated.  A  line  of  flags  was  suspended  from  the  middle  of  the  tent 
the  entire  length.  All  around  the  outside  of  tlie  tent  was  festooned  with 
bunting.    From  the  two  end  poles  of  the  tent  hung  the  following  mottoes; 

From  the  north  end : 

Tea  Destroyed  in  Boston  Harbor, 
Dec.  10, 1703. 


78 

Port  of  Boston  closefl  by  the  Enemy, 

June  1,  1774. 

Washington  in  command, 

July  2,  1775. 

Evacuation  of  Boston, 

March  17,  1776. 

From  the  south  end : 

Declaration  of  iDflependence, 

July  4,  1776 

Confederation  of  the  United  States, 

July  9,  1778. 

Surrender  of  Cornwallis, 

October  19,  1781. 
Definitive  Treaty  of  Peace, 
September  3,  1782. 

The  following  mottoes  were  arranged  before  the  speakers'  stand : 

"  Forget  not  those  who  by  their  exertions  secured  to  you  the  blessings  of  this  Day." 

"  Our  national  honor  must  be  preserved  at  all  hazards." 

"July  4th,  1776," 

(In  the  centre  of  the  stand.) 

"It  is  henceforward  what  the  dying  Adams  pronounced  it — 'A  great  and  good  Day.'  " 

"  Our  country  in  all  that  is  great  and  good — may  her  progress  neyer  cease." 

The  following  were  arranged  in  the  rear  of  the  speakers : 

"Peace  with  all  nations." 

"John  Bull  and  Uncle  Sam — May  they  ever  live  in  peace." 

"  Governor  Winthrop,  1630 — His  name  and  fame  still  live." 

'•  Washington — the  father  of  his  country." 

(In  the  centre  of  the  stand.) 

"Our  fathers  trusted  in  Thee,  and  Thou  didst  deliver  them." 

"Liberty  and  Union,  now  and  forever,  one  and  inseparable." 

"God  be  with  us  as  he  was  with  our  fathers." 

About  nine  hundred  sat  down  at  the  table  at  two  o'clock.  This  was  a 
larger  number  than  had  been  anticipated  during  the  unfavorable  weather  of 
the  former  part  of  the  day.  The  Blessing  of  Heaven  upon  the  feast  prepared 
was  invoked  by  Rev.  Dr.  Vaill  of  Palmer,  and  the  sweet  tune,  "  Home 
Again,"  was  sung  by  the  Glee  Club,  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Edward  Ham- 
ilton of  Worcester.  An  hour  was  then  very  pleasantly  occupied  in  disposing 
of  the  various  dishes  which  made  up  the  dinner. 

The  intellectual  part  of  the  feast  was  particularly  full  and  pleasing.  Hon. 
Araasa  Walker,  of  North  Brookfield,  presided,  assisted  by  the  following  Vice 
Presidents:  Hon.  Francis  Howe,  O.  C.  Felton,  Abraham  Skinner,  Aaron 
Kimball,  Esq..  of  Brookfield.  Hon.  Alanson  Hamilton,  Nathaniel  Lynde, 
Esq.,  Ebenezer  Merriam,  of  West  Brookfield.  Col.  Wm.  Adams,  Pliny  Nye, 
Esq.,  of  North  Brookfield.  D.  L.  Morril,  Esq.,  of  West  Brookfield  was  toast 
master.  At  three  o'clock  the  attention  of  the  company  was  called  to  the  read- 
ing of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  wliich  was  read  by  Rev.  S.  S.  Hunting 
of  Brookfield.    The  company  then  listened  to  the  first  regular  toast : 

The  Fourth  of  July,  1776 — The  memorable  day  in  the  history  of  the  Amer- 
ican nation.  May  its  anniversary  never  be  forgotten,  and  may  the  blessings 
which  it  inaugurated  for  us  be  speedily  secured  for  and  enjoyed  by  every  person 
who  breathes  the  free  air  of  heaven  within  the  confines  of  this  Republic. 

The  Band  responded  with  "  Hail  Columbia." 

Hon.   ^masa.  "Wallcer, 

Of  North  Brookfield,  the  President  of  the  day,  opened  the  addresses  of  the 
occasion  by  speaking  of  the  early  history  of  "  The  good  old  town  of  Brook- 


79 

field,"  which  wag  settled  in  1G73,  long  before  any  other  settlements  were  made 
ill  this  section  of  the  State. 

Brookfield,  ho  said,  was  one  of  the  "  old  towns  "  of  the  State  in  1775,  and 
accordingly  took  an  active  part  in  the  deliberative  councils  of  that  time.  She 
was  not  only  well  represented  in  the  council,  but  she  was  also  prepared  for 
war.  She  had  more  gunpowder  than  any  other  town  except  Charlestowa 
(the  amount  was  three  barrels)  when  the  war  broke  out,  and  more  firelocks 
than  any  other  town  except  Lancaster.  Brookfield  was  not  lacking  in  patriot- 
ism to  make  use  of  her  means  of  defense.  Some  interesting  statistics  were 
given  of  the  means  of  defense  existing,  at  the  time  of  the  Eevolution,  in  the 
various  towns.  In  1781  there  was  a  season  which  tried  the  patriotism  of 
the  people  more  than  any  other.  When  the  war  was  still  raging,  and  when 
the  general  government  could  not  raise  money  to  support  the  troops,  the 
towns  and  parishes  were  appealed  to,  and  responded  nobly  to  the  appeal. 
The  precinct  of  Brookfield  voted  to  tax  themselves  1080  pounds  sterling  to 
support  twelve  soldiers  for  three  years.  Corn,  at  that  time,  was  worth  only  23. 
8d.  per  bushel. 

The  names  of  some  of  the  noble  officers  and  soldiers  from  Brookfield  were 
honorably  mentioned.  There  was  a  man  living,  the  speaker  said,  who  could 
remember  when  more  business  was  done  in  Brookfield  than  m  Worcester.^ 

In  behalf  of  the  Committee  of  Arrangements,  Mr.  Walker  then  extended  a 
cordial  welcome  to  all  who  came  to  reunite  in  this  festival.  After  a  very 
honorable  reference  to  Judge  Merrick,  that  gentleman  was  introduced  to 
the  audience. 

Itemarks  of  Jixdge   IWCei'riok. 

In  commencing  he  thanked  the  President,  and  through  him  those  present, 
for  the  kindness  with  which  he  was  received  back  again  to  his  old  home. 
Whatever  reason  there  had  been  for  any  who  had  rc-united  here  to-day,  to 
leave  homes  once  lighted  by  paternal  love,  they  could  never  be  forgotten. 
However  absorbing  or  exacting  a  man's  business  was,  these  old  memories 
lasted  as  long  as  he  retained  his  senses,  and  sometimes  survived  them.  They 
who  had  invited  those  present  to  come  here  to-day,  could  readily  appreciate 
their  feelings  when  they  returned  to  these  old  familiar  places — coming  to 
.1  8  >clate  with  those  who  had  associated  with  their  fathers,  or  those  who  had 
taken  their  places  in  the  town.  The  welcome  extended  to  them  would  always 
be  cherished  in  their  hearts — not  as  a  formally  arranged  festivity,  but  as  a 
renewal  of  those  associations,  begun  in  youth,  which  had  been  so  long  broken. 
Assembled  as  they  were  on  the  day  of  our  national  independence — sur- 
rounded by  the  flags  of  the  country,  and  mottoes  which  spoke  of  its  emanci- 
pation from  a  foreign  yoke,  topics  of  a  national  character  could  not  be  well 
avoided.  Since  July  4,  1776,  this  day  had  been  regarded  with  joy  and  celebra- 
tions. As  the  revolving  years  have  brought  around  this  day,  its  praise  had 
been  sounded  from  coutitless  mouths  over  all  this  vast  country.  Many 
rancorous  political  contests  had  been  waged,  and  many  dangerous  sentiments 
had  been  allowed  and  recognized;  but  on  this  glorious  day  all  had  united  in 
sentiments  for  the  perpetuation  of  this  country,  complete  and  inseparable. 


80 

Succeeding  generations  had  celebrated  the  day  with  excitements  and  loud 
acclamations,  and  it  was  well  they  did.  The  day,  whose  anniversary  was 
thus  celebrated,  was  not  a  day  of  pomp  and  ceremony.  It  was  no  time  for 
that,  then.  It  was  the  time  for  action.  But  the  extent  of  our  country  and 
its  various  institutions,  need  all  the  warmth  of  patriotism  to  bind  it  together. 

All,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  who  preferred  to  be  slaves  rather  than 
freemen,  united  in  the  maintenance  of  the  same  great  cause.  Commerce, 
agriculture  and  the  arts  united  together.  Towns  which  had  become  opulent 
by  trade  contributed  and  assumed  the  expenses  of  the  war  of  the  Revolution. 
This  was  not  all;  the  poor  gave  also — casting  their  whole  living  into  the 
support  of  liberty.  Historians  had  embalmed  the  memory  of  many  of  the 
prominent  actors  in  the  great  cause,  but  the  acts  of  their  companions  who  had 
shared  equal  dangers  with  them,  but  in  less  prominent  positions,  were  being 
lost  to  us,  in  a  particular  sense.  There  had  been  but  little  dissimilarity  in  the 
origin  of  the  great  actors  of  the  American  Revolution.  Putnam  went  up 
with  the  soldiers  who  had  plowed  with  him  in  the  same  field — uneducated, 
but  bearing  as  brave  a  heart  as  was  ever  carried  into  battle.  Greene,  in  his 
early  life,  was  familiar  with  the  forge  in  his  father's  blacksmith  shop, 
Washington  followed  the  occupation  of  a  land  surveyor.  Brookfield,  said  the 
speaker,  lierself  had  produced  patriotism  more  valuable  than  all  the  auriferous 
sands  or  seductive  placers  of  gold  piled  up  in  the  mountains  or  existing  in 
the  valleys  of  California,  or  of  the  world !  Brookfield  was  ahead  of  the  other 
towns  when  the  Revolution  broke  out.  The  audience  had  been  told  that  it 
had  three  barrels  of  powder  when  the  war  commenced,  and  it  always  kept  it 
"  ch-y,"  and  was  ready  to  use  it.     (Applause.) 

The  history  of  the  town,  except  in  ecclesiastical  and  parochial  matters,  was 
but  imperfectly  recorded,  but  the  speaker  was  glad  to  learn  that  the  reapers 
in  this  harvest  of  living  history  were  already  girding  themselves  to  bind  up 
the  sheaves.  Who  shall  say  what  names  shall  grace  that  page  of  our  history. 
Let  the  work  be  done  as  f\iitHfully  as  its  importance  demands.  The  names 
of  Ward,  Appleton,  and  Fiske,  leaders  in  our  Israel,  will  figure  there.  These 
considerations  should  be  deferred  till  that  more  appropriate  occasion,  the  two 
hundredth  anniversary,  which  would  soon  be  celebrated,  when  the  children 
of  these  noble  men  would  pay  their  dearest  tribute  to  their  fathers'  memory. 
But  these  considerations  would  press  upon  us  now  as  we  hear  mentioned  the 
honorable  names  now  represented  here,  and  those  that  had  been  sent  abroad. 
From  Plymouth  Rock  to  the  Golden  Gate  of  the  Pacific,  there  could  hardly  a 
place  be  found  where  some  representative  from  this  old  town  had  not  rested, 
and  assisted  in  establishing  the  institutions  of  our  country.  In  other  lands 
they  have  stood  alone,  and  nobly  represented  our  nation.  They  have  flung 
out  the  flag  of  the  country,  and  defended  it  from  its  enemies.  Whatever  may 
have  been  the  occupation  of  their  lives,  wherever  their  lots  had  been  cast, 
they  would  deeply  sympathize  with  the  present  residents  of  Brookfield  in 
their  veneration  of  its  ancient  honor — and  when  the  proposed  centennial  cel- 
ebration was  held,  they  would  return  to  unite  their  voices  with  them  in  its 
pi'aise. 


81 

In  conclusion  Judge  Meerick  offered  the  following  sentiment: 

Brto-ncld—Brookfield  as  of  Old.  Peace  be  within  thy  walls  and  prosper- 
ity within  thy  gates  forever. 

Second  regular  toast : 

The  Memory  of  our  Departed  Patriots  and  8tates)nen.  Their  characters 
were  upright  and  manly— their  motives  were  pure  as  the  sky  above  them. 
Their  fame  is  co-extensive  with  the  universe.  May  future  generations  emu- 
late their  virtues,  practise  their  precepts  and  pay  homage  to  their  minds. 

In  response  to  this  sentiment,  a  dirge  was  performed  by  the  Band. 

Third  regular  toast : 

The  Constitution  and  the  Union.  May  the  wisdom  which  framed  the  one 
and  the  patriotism  which  secured  the  other,  by  the  Fathers,  be  perpetuated  in 
the  sons,  so  that  the  inheritance  which  was  bequeathed  to  us  may  be  main- 
tained, the  pride  of  the  people,  the  glory  of  the  age,  and  the  example  for  the 
world. 

Hon.  Wm.  Appleton  of  Boston  was  expected  to  be  present  and  respond 
to  this  sentiment,  but  disappointed  the  audience  in  not  being  present. 

Fourth  regular  toast : 

The  Sons  of  Brookfield.  Where  success  is  honorable,  there  is  no  such  word 
as  fail. 

A  letter  was  read  from  Hon.  Simeon  Draper  of  New  York,  in  response  to 
this  sentiment.  He  had  been  unexpectedly  detained  from  participating  in  this 
celebration  by  urgent  business.  The  spirit  of  the  letter  was  accordant  to  the 
words  of  the  toast,  and  was  highly  congratulatory  and  eulogistic  in  its  charac- 
ter. 

"  Auld  Lang  Syne  "  was  then  sung  by  the  Glee  Club,  with  excellent  effect. 

Fifth  regular  toast : 

The  Patriots  of  Brookfield  in  1776 — They  showed  their  patriotism  no  less 
by  their  self-denial  at  home  than  by  their  bravery  on  the  battle  field. 

Hon.  DwiGHT  Foster  of  Worcester,  descended  in  the  second  generation 
from  Brookfield,  which  was  the  residence  of  his  grandfather,  the  father  of  the 
late  Hon.  A.  D.  Foster  of  Worcester,  responded.  His  ancestry,  he  said,  had 
lived  here,  and  their  graves  were  here,  and  so  familiar  was  he  with  the  places 
of  interest  in  this  old  town  that  he  felt  he  had  as  good  a  right  here  as  any 
one.  He  referred  to  the  ancient  history  of  Brookfield,  reading  from  an  old 
record  of  the  town,  of  curious  interest,  showing  the  great  interest  and  zeal 
which  this  town  exhibited  in  all  its  meetings  during  the  struggle  of  the  Revo- 
lution.   He  then  offered  for  a  closing  sentiment : 

Our  Forefathers  of  the  town  of  Brookfield — May  we  cherish  their  memory, 
imitate  their  virtues,  and  equal  their  characters. 

Sixth  regular  toast. 

The  Veteran  Schoolmaster  of  1792  present  with  us  on  this  occasion. — He  has 
probably  taught  and  flogged  more  Brookfield  boys  than  any  other  man  that 
ever  lived.  The  remarkable  success  of  his  scholars  in  after  life  shows  that  his 
instructions  were  good,  and  his  discipline  judiciously  applied. 


82 

The  veteran  schoolmaster,  Mr.  Kufus  Dodge,  who  is  85  years  of  age,  then 
stood  up  and  showed  himself  to  the  company.  Mr.  Cari  of  St.  Charles,  Mo., 
Geo.  Howe,  Esq.,  of  Boston,  and  Wm.  Howe,  Esq.,  of  Brookfield,  responded 
briefly. 

Seventh  regular  toast. 

The  President  of  the  Massachusetts  Senate — A  distinguished  descendant 
of  one  of  the  most  ancient  and  most  respected  families  of  the  old  town  of 
Brookfield.  He  has  served  in  the  councils  of  the  nation  and  in  the  legislative 
halls  of  the  Commonwealth,  in  both  with  the  fullest  approbation  of  his  fellow- 
citizens. 

This  was  briefly  responded  to  by  his  cousin,  Henet  Uphabi,  Esq.,  of  Bos- 
ton. 

The  eighth  regular  toast — was  complimentary  to  the  clergy  of  Brookfield — 
their  learning,  piety,  success  and  longevity. 

This  toast  was  prepared  for  Eev.  Dr.  Sxelx.  of  North  Brookfield,  who  last 
Sunday  preached  his  sixtieth  anniversary  sermon.  He  was  not  able  to  be 
present,  and  the  sentiment  was  responded  to  by  Eev.  C.  Gushing,  his  colleague. 
Four  pastors  were  named  whose  aggregate  pastorate  had  been  194  years.  The 
remarks  of  this  speaker  were  particularly  impressive. 

Ninth  regular  toast. 

The  late  Senator  from  the  County  of  Middlesex — A  descendant  from  one  of 
the  most  talented  and  brilliant  families  that  ever  lived  in  Brookfield.  We 
congratulate  Newton  and  that  coimty  upon  their  adoption  of  one  of  our 
sons. 

This  sentiment  was  happily  responded  to  by  the  gentleman  so  warmly 
alluded  to,  Dr.  Hitchcock  of  Newton.  He  spoke  of  the  county  and  town 
of  which  he  was  a  resident — of  its  history  and  chivalrous  deeds.  He  spoke 
of  the  marked  devotion  which  Newton  showed  to  the  cause  of  liberty  in  the 
struggle  of  the  Eevolution.  There,  he  said,  labored  the  Apostle  Elliott;  there 
were  the  best  theological  institutions,  the  best  schools,  the  best  young  ladies' 
seminary,  the  best  ministers,  the  best  physicians,  the  best  lawyers,  the  best 
fai-mers,  the  best  mechanics,  the  best  firemen,  the  best  neighbors,  which  can 
be  found  on  the  face  of  the  globe.  Notwithstanding  all  this,  after  so  long  an 
absence  he  joyfully  returned  to  greet  his  loved  friends  in  his  native  town. 
For  him  nature  had  never  spread  out  such  inducements  as  in  the  days  of  old, 
in  this  goodly  town.  He  was  unable  to  visit  them  often ;  other  cares  and 
duties  occupied  his  time ;  but  he  loved  to  think,  wherever  he  was,  of  this  place 
and  those  dear  friends  whom  a  kind  Providence  had  so  signally  blessed. 

In  conclusion.  Dr.  Hitchcock  said: 

"  We  have  to-day  visited  these  spots  where  our  ancestors  and  kindred  sleep 
in  peace.  They  have  crossed  the  river  of  death.  In  some  instances,  hardly  a 
broken  slab,  half  legibly  inscribed,  tell  us  where  they  repose.  How  silent 
their  resting  places !  So  it  will  be  with  us,  for  we  are  soon  to  follow.  We 
are,  like  them,  to  bid  a  last  and  long  farewell  to  loved  ones.  The  cold  sweat 
of  death  will  be  upon  our  brows :  the  glazed  eye  will  be  unable  to  recognize ; 


83 

the  palsied  tongue  will  be  speechless ;  and  these  hands  cannot  return  the 
gentle  pressure  of  the  idols  of  our  hearts.  When  that  hour  shall  come  may 
we  be  ready,  so  that  the  cold  stream  of  death  shall  be  to  us  but  a  rill,  and  may 
the  sweet  music  of  heaven  break  upon  our  enraptured  ears,  destroying  even 
the  sting  of  death." 

An  original  ode  to  science  was  then  sung  by  the  Glee  Glut,  which  contri- 
buted largely  to  the  pleasure  of  the  occasion  by  its  sweet  music. 

The  celebration  was  eminently  successful  and  satisfactory,  notwithstanding 
the  bad  weather  of  the  morning,  and  the  clouded  sky  all  day.  Much  credit  is 
due  to  the  following  named  gentlemen,  the  Committee  of  Arrangements,  by 
whose  energy  and  enterprise  the  affair  was  rendered  so  decided  a  success : 
Geo.  E.  Clapp,  Esq.,  Geo.  W.  Johnson,  Esq.,  A.  H.  Moulton,  Charles  Fales, 
Joel  Bartlett,  Tyler  Hosman,  Wm.  H.  Montague,  Stillman  Butterworth, 
Henry  L.  Mellen,  George  Forbes  and  Pliny  Doane. 

The  great  kindness  and  hospitality  shown  to  our  reporter  merits  his 
warmest  regard,  and  speaks  nobly  for  the  citizens  of  "  the  good  old  town." 


THE  BI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBEATIOIT. 

The  Celebration  of  1860  was  announced  to  the  public  by  the  Cir- 
cular following : 

Beookfield,  Makch  15, 1860. 

DeakSie:  The  present  year  marks  the  Two  Hundredth  Anniversary  of 
the  Settlement  of  this  Town,  and  it  is  thought  desirable  and  proper  that  'the 
event  should  be  commemorated  in  a  suitable  manner. 

A  general  meeting  of  the  citizens  of  the  several  towns  into  which  the  an- 
cient town  of  Brookfield  has  been  divided,  has  been  held,  and  the  undersigned 
appointed  a  Committee  to  make  arrangements  for  the  occasion,  and  invite  the 
attendance  of  all  who  may  feel  an  interest  in  it. 

We  therefore  respectfully  extend  to  you  an  invitation  to  be  present  on  the 
Fourth  of  July  next,  the  day  fixed  upon  as  on  the  whole  the  most  eligible  and 
convenient. 

The  committee  are  especially  desirous  that  all  who  originated  in,  or  have 
been  residents  of  this  place,  should  join  in  this  Celebration. 

The  Sons  and  Daughters  of  Brookfield  are  scattered  far  and  wide  in  all  the 
States  of  the  Union ;  but  the  Committee  trust  they  will  be  happy  to  come  to; 
gether  on  an  occasion  so  fraught  with  interesting  associations  and  reminiscen- 
ces. 

The  first  settlement  having  been  made  in  that  part  of  the  old  town  now  in- 
corporated as  West  Brookfield,  and  the  site  of  the  first  Meeting  House,  the  old 
garrison  which  stood  successfully  the  Indian  Siege  of  1075,  the  Gilbert  Fort, 
and  the  first  Grave  Yard  being  also  in  that  section,  the  Conuuittee  have  decided 
to  hold  the  proposed  celebration  in  that  town.    Ukv.  Lymaj{  Wuitinu  of 


84 

Providence,  K.  I.,  has  been  invited  to  deliver  the  Address,  and  every  effort  will 
be  made  to  give  interest  to  the  occasion. 

A  large  tent  will  be  erected  upon  the  Common,  in  which  the  services  will  be 
held,  and  the  dinner  be  provided. 
Tickets  to  the  Tent  and  Dinner,  one  dollar. 

We  have  the  honor  to  be, 

Kespectfnlly, 

Your  Obedient  Servants, 

AARON  KIMBALli,  WM.  ADAMS,  ALANSON  HAMILTON, 

FRANCIS  HOWE,  EZRA  BACHELLER,  NATHAMPX  LYNDE, 

O.  0    FELTON,  CHARLES  ADAMS,  JB.,  ALFRED  WHITE, 

EMMONS  TWICHELL,  HIRAM  CARRUTH,  JOSIAH  HENSHAW, 

LUTHER  STOWELL,,  PLINY  NYE,  BAXTER  BARNES, 

A.  H.  MOULTON,  AMASA  WALKER,  RAYMOND  CUMMINGS, 

GEO.  W   JOHNSON,  BONTJM  NYE,  CHARLES  E.  SMITH, 

H.  L.  MELLEN,  E.  D.  BACHELLER,  JOHN  M    FALES. 

GEO.  FORBES,  T.  M.  DUNCAN,  L.  U.  THOMPSON, 

PLINY  DOANE,  G.  B.  DEWING,  S.  N. .WHITE, 

G.  W.  LINCOLN, 

The  following  report  of  the  Celebration,  is  copied  from  The  Mas- 
sachusetts Spy,  July  6, 1860. 

The  morning  of  Wednesday  July  4th,  opened  with  heavy,  foreboding  clouds, 
which  however,  "  in  honor  of  the  day,"  soon  broke,  and  the  sun  looked  down 
with  gladness,  shedding  splendor  on  the  whole  day  and  scene. 

Tho  decorations  of  Col.  Beals  were  hung  around  in  great  profusion,  mak- 
ing the  whole  village.  With  its  neat  dwellings,  its  rich  shadowy  elms,  and  luxu- 
riant maples,  radiant  with  bunting,  parti-colored  flags,  national  emblems  and 
devices.  The  new  Town  Hall  was  bedecked  with  flags  and  streamers,  and  on 
its  broad  front  were  displayed  a  large  equestrian  design  representing  Wash- 
ington, with  the  goddess  and  cap  of  liberty  on  one  hand,  and  the  blind  god- 
dess of  justice  on  the  other,  while  below  were  arranged  the  coats  of  arms  of 
various  of  the  states.  Across  all  the  principal  streets  were  displayed  flags  of 
all  colors  and  devices,  conspicuously  displaying  the  word  "  Welcome  "  at  each 
entrance  of  the  vihage,  and  across  from  the  Town  Hall  was  the  inscription, 
"  Welcome  Home,  Sons  and  Daughters  of  Brookfield." 

Many  private  dwellings  were  decorated  with  flags  and  evergreen  wreaths, 
as  well  as  patriotic  mottoes,  most  conspicuous  among  them  being  the  old 
tavern  opposite  the  Town  Hall,  with  the  inscription.,  "  Hitchcock  Tavern, 
1760."    The  Wickaboag  House,  near  the  depot,  was  also  tastefully  decorated. 

The  citizens  of  West  Brookfield  proceeded  at  9  o'clock,  under  the  escort 
of  the  Oakham  band,  to  Foster's  Hill,  the  site  of  the  first  fortification,  where 
they  were  met  by  the  citizens  of  North,  South,  and  East  Brookfield,  with  the 
Brookfield  Cornet  band,  and  marched  to  the  common.  Here  the  final  pro- 
cession was  formed,  with  S.  D.  Cooke  as  chief  marshal,  and  marched  through 
the  village  to  the  grounds  of  E.  B.  Taintor,  Esq.,  where,  entering  under  a 
tasteful  birch,  bearing  the  inscription,  "  Brookfield  incorporated  1660,"  they 


85 

proceeded  by  the  lane,  which  was  formerly  the  old  stage  road,  to  the  old  bury- 
ing ground,  near  the  entrance  of  which  stood  a  monument  inscribed:— 

"Erected  in  memory  of  John  White,  Joseph  Ktllog,  Stephen  Jennings, 
Benjamin  Jennings,  Ebenezer  Hay  ward,  and  John  Grosvenor,  who  were  killed 
by  the  Indians,  July  20, 1710." 

-Thence  the  procession  returned  across  the  old  Baldwin  place  to  the  street, 
under  an  ornamental  arch  inscribed,  "  1G60.  The  day  we  celebrate.  1776  " 
with  the  word  "  Welcome  "  on  the  reverse. 

Arriving  at  the  large  tent,  which  was  set  up  at  the  east  end  of  the  common 
near  the  old  Fisk  store,  the  large  company  entered  and  completely  filled  the 
tables,  which  had  been  set  for  twelve  hundred,  leaving  a  large  margin  for  out- 
siders who  did  not  care  to  participate  in  the  dinner. 

The  meeting  being  called  to  order,  Amasa  Walker,  Esq.,  appeared  as 
president  of  the  day,  and  introduced  the  venerable  Kev.  Dr.  Joseph  Vaill  of 
Palmer,  who  invoked  the  divine  blessing. 

The  gathered  host  then  spent  a  half  hour  in  doing  justice  to  the  ample 
viands  spread  before  them  by  the  caterers,  Messrs.  Cummings  and  Crowell. 

The  platform  was  appropriately  arranged  with  evergreen  mottoes  and  de- 
vices, and  set  out  with  bouquets,  which  also  ornamented  the  long  tables. 

Conspicuous  on  the  platform  was  a  banner  having  on  one  side  a  sketch  of 
an  ancient  meeting  house,  with  a  gathering  Sunday  crowd  on  foot  and  on 
horseback,  in  the  olden  style,  with  the  inscription,  "  Church  of  our  Fathers." 
The  reverse  bore  a  sketch  of  the  Indian  attack  on  the  fortified  house  in  1075, 
with  the  inscription,  "  Attack  on  the  Last  House,"  and  "  If  God  be  for  us, 
who  can  be  against  us?  "  Other  inscribed  banners,  which  had  been  borne  in 
the  procession,  were  conspicuously  displayed  in  different  parts  of  the  tent. 

Upon  the  platform  sat  quite  an  array  of  the  old  sons  of  Brookfield,  with 
gray  and  silvered  locks,  which  formed  a  dignified  and  touching  picture  to  the 
view  of  the  audience. 

The  edibles  being  disposed  of,  the  president  of  the  day,  Mr.  Walker,  offered 
in  eloquent  terms,  a  welcome  to  the  sons,  daughters,  and  former  residents  of 
the  old  town,  to  this  historical  reunion.  Then  recurring  to  IGOO,  he  said  it 
was  tlie  time  of  the  restoration  of  the  Stuarts,  one  of  the  darkest  and  most 
gloomy  in  English  history.  Louis  XIV.  was  just  entering  upon  his 
brilliant  but  desperate  career  in  France,  and  this,  when  the  cause  of  liberty 
in  Europe  seemed  hopeless,  the  early  settlers  of  New  England  were  planting 
the  institutions  of  freedom  in  the  new  world.  This  settlement  was  not  the 
mere  outgrowth  of  a  crowded  civilization,  but  an  independent  establishment; 
it  was  a  vine  planted  in  the  wilderness.  There  were  no  settlements  within 
thirty  miles,  Lancaster  in  the  east,  and  Springfield  in  the  west,  and  this  was 
made  half  a  century  before  any  nearer  was  attempted— fifty-seven  years  before 
Brimfield,  the  first  after,  and  eighty-nine  years  before  Oakham,  the  next, 
while  the  proud  city  of  Worcester  was  still  a  swamp,  and  Leicester  hills  were 
covered  with  wild  forests.  The  great  i-easons  why  this  was  made  so  early  a 
point  for  settlement,  were,  first,  this  beautiful  plain  was  open  and  clear  of 


86 

trees,  and  all  ready  for  the  culture  of  the  hushandmen ;  second,  the  broad  and 
beautiflil  meadows  offered  ample  supplies  of  grass  and  hay  for  their  stock; 
ajid  third,  the  beautiful  poiids,  rivers,  and  brooks,  were  amply  stocked  with  fish, 
for  their  earlier  and  later  wants. 

Remarking  further  upon  the  ancient  glory  and  importance  of  this  town, 
above  others  near  it,  Mr.  Walker  introduced  the  Orator  of  the  day,  a  native  of 
North  Brookfield,  the  Eev.  Lyman  Whiting  of  Providence,  R.  I. 

The  Orator  opened  with  an  eloquent  welcome  to  the  gathered  sons  and 
daughters.  Thence  passing  on,  he  reviewed  the  attractions  of  the  place  for 
early  settlement,  and  sketched  the  recorded  history  of  its  occupation.  He 
called  attention  to  the  fact  that  it  was  largely  the  Saxon  desire  for  landed 
possessions  that  led  these  settlers  into  this  wilderness,  really  a  land  specula- 
tion, that  led  the  western  emigrants  of  that  day  lo  locate  in  this  western 
reserve,  in  the  place  of  pushing  further  into  the  distant  Illinois  of  the  Con- 
necticut valley.  He  dilated  in  eloquent  and  glowing  terms  upon  the  heroism 
and  daring  that  led  these  settlers  to  locate  at  the  chief  seat  of  so  warlike  and 
fierce  a  tribe  of  Indians  as  were  the  Nipmucs. 

He  then  brought  in  record  the  various  interesting  historic  facts  and  in- 
cidents connected  with  this  settlement,  such  as  the  grant  to  the  original  com- 
pany from  the  General  Court  in  1660,  the  deed  from  the  Indians  in  166.5,  and 
the  memorable  and  fearful  events  of  the  King  Philip  war  in  1675,  the  terrible 
events  of  which,  as  they  transpired  in  detail  on  this  soil,  he  portrayed  in 
graphic  and  telling  periods,  with  occasional  bursts  of  impassioned  eloquence. 

After  this  he  came  to  the  earliest  sacred  records  of  the  town  in  its  organic 
capacity,  holding  up  a  dilapidated  manuscript  leaf  containing  the  first  record 
extant.  He  also  exhibited  an  original  deed  of  land  from  Ebenezer  Scott  and 
William  Scott  of  Springfield,  to  Thomas  Barnes  of  Brookfield,  in  1708,  ad- 
dressed "  To  all  Christian  People  to  whom  these  presents  shall  come,"  as  the 
earliest  surviving  deed  of  laud  in  this  town. 

In  reading  extracts  from  the  early  records,  many  of  historic  interest  were 
given,  and  many  of  curious  quaintness;  many  of  them  showing  the  historic 
characteristics  of  the  early  churches,  and  the  history  of  the  various  early 
clergymen  of  this  town ,  which  he  brought  to  the  present  generation,  this  his- 
tory being  quite  full  and  complete. 

The  following  is  a  specimen  from  the  town  records  of  1721 : — "  Voted  to 
build  good  strong  plain  seats  in  ye  body  of  ye  meeting  house." 

The  speaker  then  reviewed  the  prominent  men  who  in  early  days  were  lo- 
cated here,  speaking  of  the  Dwights,  the  Uphams,  the  Fosters,  and  others, 
attributing  to  Mr.  Upham  the  building  of  the  first  woolen  mill  on  the  continent, 
and  dwelling  at  length  upon  the  virtues  and  meritorious  characteristics  of 
Hon.  Jedediah  Foster,  and  his  descendants,  to  the  late  Hon.  A.  D.  Foster  of 
this  city. 

He  then  came  to  the  records  of  the  Revolution,  which  are  full  of  patriotic 
transcripts,  one  of  them  calling  on  *'  all  the  world  to  witness  our  indignation 
at  the  importation  of  tea  to  be  peddled  out  among  us,  which  is  a  more  deadly 


87 

poison  to  our  political  and  moral  constitutions  than  ratsbane  is  to  our 
physical." 

A  year  and  twelve  days  before  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  this  town 
voted  to  sustain  the  Colonial  Congress,  if  they  should  vote  to  dissolve  their 
connection  with  the  mother  country. 

A  few  specimens  of  the  "  Moral  and  Political  Telegraph,  or  Brookfield 
Advertiser,"  which  was  published  a  few  years,  commencing  in  1794,  was 
exhibited — one  of  them  in  1796,  advocating  the  project  of  a  canal  to  Provi- 
dence, and  suggesting  that  books  be  opened  for  subscription,  among  other 
places,  at  Worcester. 

Also  a  copy  of  "  The  Political  Repository  or  Farmers'  Journal,"  Volume  3, 
Number  180,  published  at  Brookfield,  March  31,  1801,  was  held  up  to  view. 

The  oration,  which  occupied  nearly  two  hours,  was  full  of  historic  facts  of 
great  value  to  all  interested  in  the  town  as  well  as  to  the  antiquary,  and  occa- 
sionally leaving  dry  details,  the  orator  brought  out  many  glowing  eloquent  pas- 
sages, and  closed  with  an  eloquent  tribute  to  the  three  venerable  clergymen  who 
were  so  near  contemporaneous,  and  who  each  lived  to  preach  to  the  churches 
of  their  first  love  their  half-century  sermons.  Rev.  Mr.  Stone  of  South  Brook- 
field, Rev.  Dr.  Snell  of  North  Brookfield,  and  Rev.  Dr.  Fiske  of  New  Brain- 
tree,  quoting,  as  a  finale,  some  beautiful  lines  of  Bryant  appropriate  to  such 
an  occasion. 

Arrangements  were  made  for  the  publication  of  this  valuable  history  of  the 
town. 

Blanks  were  distributed  through  the  audience,  to  be  filled  out  with  the 
names  and  other  statistics  of  all  the  sons  and  daughters  present,  for  publica- 
tion, with  the  address  and  other  proceedings  of  the  day. 

George  W.  Lincoln,  Esq.,  the  toastmaster,  then  read  the  sentiments  as 
follows : — 

The  Perils  and  Sufferings  of  the  Early  Settlers — The  price  paid  for  our 
civilization  and  freedom — we  will  not  forget  our  obligations. 

Brookfield — Forty-five  years  under  tutelage,  she  has  attained  to  her  major- 
ity, and  has  greater  reason  than  any  ancient  Spartan  of  being  proud  of  her 
sons. 

This  was  responded  to  by  Rev.  C.  Cushing  of  North  Brookfield,  who  gave 
some  historic  sketches  of  the  past  sons,  with  complimentary  notices  of  some 
of  the  more  recent  sons  who  had  distinguished  themselves  in  business,  in  the 
pulpit,  at  the  bar,  on  the  bench,  and  in  the  medical  profession,  giving  also  a 
list  of  the  college  graduates  from  this  town. 

The  Ministry  of  Brookfield — Noted  for  long  life  and  long  pastorates;  may 
their  successors  emulate  their  virtues,  and  receive  in  like  measure  the  bless- 
ing of  their  Lord. 

Responded  to  by  Dr.  Eliakim  Phelps  of  Pliiladelphia,  forty  years  ago  pas- 
tor of  the  first  precinct  church,  (West  Brookfield,)  eloquently  setting  forth 
the  duties  and  influence  of  the  ministry,  and  the  importance  always  set  upou 
it  by  the  inhabitants  of  this  town. 


The  Three  Brookfields—Lxke  the  three  graces,  all  beautiful,  and  so  ranch  the 
more  for  the  contrast  and  variety  which  they  present;  may  they  never  cease 
to  vie  with  each  other  in  all  useful  and  honorable  enterprise,  as  well  as  in 
rendering  more  and  more  attractive  their  homesteads  and  villages. 

Eesponded  to  by  N.  B.  Charaberlin,  Esq.,  of  Boston,  (a  native). 

By  E.  W.  Bond,  Esq.,  of  Springfield,  (a  native)  :— 

The  Tri-Centennial  Anniversary  of  the  Settlement  of  Brookjield — May  it 
dawn  upon  a  people  as  eminent  for  their  virtues,  their  noble  and  heroic  qual- 
ities, as  the  people  of  the  first  and  second  centuries  in  its  history. 

The  System  of  F)-ee  Schools,  established  by  our  Fathers — It  opens  a  straight 
and  unobstructed  pathway  from  the  threshold  of  every  abode,  however  hum- 
ble, to  the  highest  places  of  usefulness,  influence,  and  honor. 

Responded  to  by  Rev.  Mr.  Burr  of  Soutli  Brookfield,  sketching  the  bistory 
of  the  free  schools  of  New  England,  complimenting  the  early  connection  of 
the  schools  with  the  church,  and  regretting  the  tendency  to  separation  there- 
from. 

Our  National  Banner — Wherever  on  the  earth's  surface  the  eye  of  the 
American  beholds  it,  may  lie  rejoice  and  have  reason  to  bless  it;  on  whatever 
spot  it  is  planted,  there  may  freedom  have  a  strong  foothold,  humanity  a 
brave  champion,  and  religion  a  pure  altar. 

Rev.  C.  M.  Cordley  of  West  Brookfield,  pastor  of  the  original  Brookfield 
church,  responded  in  historic  and  patriotic  reminiscences,  and  instruction  as 
a  religious  civilian.  He  spoke  of  the  number  of  members  of  this  church  who 
had  fallen  at  various  distant  points  of»  battle  in  the  struggle  for  the  establish- 
ment of  the  nationality  of  tliis  flag,  and  closed  by  expressing  the  hope  that  it 
may  soon  wave  over  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  land,  as  free  citizens,  whether 
black  or  white. 

A  letter  was  here  read  from  Hon.  P.  Merrick  (a  native),  regretting  his 
detention  by  ill  health  from  this  celebration. 

The  following  letter  was  also  read : — 

Boston,  June  28, 1860. 
Gentlemen — Your  communication,  inviting  me  to  attend  the  two  hundredth 
anniversary  of  the  settlement  of  the  town  of  Brookfield,  would  have  been 
sooner  replied  to,  but  for  the  liope  that  I  might  be  able  to  accept  your  invita- 
tion, which  I  am  compelled  to  decline. 

I  have  known  but  little  of  Brookfield  or  its  inhabitants  since  my  childhood, 
yet  I  feel  much  interested  in  the  place  of  my  nativity,  and  where  rests  the 
mortal  remains  of  my«uich  beloved  and  respected  father. 

Very  sincerely  yours, 

Wm.  Appleton. 
Messrs.  Aaron  Kimball,  Francis  Howe,  and  others. 

N.  B. — I  enclose  a  check  for  one  hundred  dollars,  which  please  apply 
toward  the  expenses  of  the  celebration. 

Our  Boy,  East  Brookfield — A  promising  minor,  destined  soon  to  come  to 
his  rights;  he  bids  fair  to  make  a  vigorous  and  honored  member  of  th^. 
old  family  of  Brookfields. 

Our  boy  "  Warren,"  loho  left  his  Parent  and  set  up  for  himself  in  1741.^ 
He  might  have  been  a  little  wayward  in  his  youth,  but  he  makes  a  likely  man, 
and  does  honor  to  the  present  age. 


89 

.  Kesponded  to  by  T.  M.  Duncan  of  North  Brookfield,  in  prose  and  verse, 

A  Pure  Church,  and  Free  Schools,  and  a  Government  responsible  to  the 
People — These  were  the  great  ideas  which  brought-  our  fathers  to  New  Eng- 
land, and  our  greatest  honor  will  be  to  have  aided  in  the  development  of 
these  institutions. 

Rev.  W.  H.  Beecher  of  North  Brookfield  spoke  to  this,  speaKing  of  the 
necessary  result  from  and  connection  with  the  free  schools  of  a  free  church, 
and  a  free  government  responsible  to  an  intelligent  people. 

Shattoockquis,  the  Indian  Chief,  who  sold  Quaboag  to  Ensign  Cooper  for 
three  hundred  fathoms  of  Wampum — He  doubtless  thought  he  made  a  good 
bargain  with  the  white  men  at  the  time,  but  if  he  were  here,  to-day,  he  could 
not  buy  it  back  for  twice  the  money. 

By  Wm.  B.  Draper,  Esq.,  of  New  York,  (a  natire). 

Brookfield  Two  Hundred  Years  Ar/o — Then  only  one  town,  now  divided 
into  three  ;  may  they  henceforth  become  as  one  hi  all  that  elevates  humanity. 

The  Early  Settlers  of  Brookfield — The  light  that  on  their  heads  two  hun- 
dred years  have  shed,  shall  ne'er  grow  dim. 

By  Dr.  John  Homans  of  Boston,  a  native: — 

The  Ancient  Town  of  Brookfield — In  the  period  of  our  Revolutionary 
struggle,  distinguished  for  her  patriotism,  and  for  her  liberal  contributions  to 
the  relief  of  her  distressed  fellow-citizens,  and  always  honored  in  the  industry, 
enterprise,  and  intelligence  of  her  sons  and  daughters,  at  home  and  abroad. 

The  Three  Christian  Pastors  of  the  Last  Century  in  Brookfield — Ephraim 
Ward  of  the  West  Parish,  Micah  Stone  of  the  South,  and  Thomas  Snell  of  the 
North — three  shining  lights.  Two  of  them  are  already  placed  in  the  upper 
temple,  one  still  burns  with  the  golden  glow  of  a  saintly  old  age. 

Dr.  Jabez  B.  Upham  of  Boston  here  made  a  brief  speech,  giving  some 
interesting  reminiscences  of  the  Upham  family,  for  a  long  time  so  prominent 
in  West  Brookfield,  and  closed  with  the  following  sentiment: — 

Our  Descendants,  the  Sons  and  Daughters  of  Brookfield  One  Hundred 
Years  hence — May  they  incline  to  hide,  with  the  mantle  of  all-covering 
charity,  the  sins,  negligence  and  ignorance,  of  this  our  day  and  generation. 

Master  Ranger,  the  Last  Surviving  Teacher  of  a  former  Generation — May 
he  long  live  and  have  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  his  old  pupils  are 
behaving  well. 

'  Master  Ranger,  a  veteran  of  seventy-five  years,  and  white  hair,  stood  up 
.and  practised  his  old  scholar,  the  president  of  the  day,  in  the  ornament  of 
making  polite  bows,  whereupon  Rev.  Dr.  Phelps  congratulated  him  upon  the 
proficiency  of  his  pupil. 

The  Absent  Sons  and  Daughters  of  Old  Brookfield. 

The  Merriams  of  Springfield — The  enterprising  and  worthy  publishers  of 
that  great  "  American  institution,"  Webster's  Unabridged  Dictionary ;  they 
are  sons  of  whom  Brookfield  is  proud. 

By  Geo.  Forbes,  Esq : — 

Old  Brookfield — She  has  turned  out  many  brave  boys  and  modest  maidens, 
and  sent  them  to  prairie  and  town.    May  she  continue  year  by  year  to  add 


90 

recruits  of  true  inanliood  and  •womanhood  who  shall  be  living  epistles  and 
proof  of  lior  worth. 

Kov.  Hubbard  Winslow,  D.  D.  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  made  a  short  speech. 

Judge  Danforth  of  New  York,  (a  native,)  seventy-four  years  absent,  spoke 
briefly,  also  Deacon  Josiah  Gary  of  St.  Charles,  Mo.,  (a  native;. 

The  president  here  exhibited  a  note  of  the  Massachusetts  colonial  currency 
numbered  5655,  and  dated  December  1,  1772,  for  the  amount  of  five  shillings 
and  four  pence;  also  a  stone  pot,  of  Indian  manufacture,  of  the  capacity  of 
about  two  gallons,  which  was  found  in  the  earth  near  the  Wickaboag  pond. 

Conspicuous  upon  the  desk  was  also  a  lignum  vitae  mortar  and  pestle  that 
showed  a  long  and  ample  service,  with  a  card  reading  as  follows: — "This 
mortar  was  the  property  of  John  Howland,  one  of  the  Pilgrims,  who  landed 
from  the  Mayflower  at  Plymouth,  in  1620.  His  descendant  in  the  fifth  gene- 
ration, Southworth  Howland,  resided  in  West  Brookfield  for  half  a  century, 
till  1843.    His  widow  and  surviving  sons  and  daughters  are  present  to-day. 

George  Howe,  Esq.,  of  Boston,  offered  the  last  sentiment,  as  follows: — 

The  Ladies  of  the  Three  Brookfeldfi— Among  whom  may  be  found  those 
capable  of  acting  in  the  place  of  Victoria  herself. 

The  band,  which  had  through  the  whole  afternoon  interspersed  their 
music  with  the  other  exercises,  here  played  a  parting  tune,  and  the  gathering 
dispersed,  well  pleased  with  the  exercises,  and  having  never  before  assembled, 
never  expecting  again  to  assemble  for  a  centennial  celebration  of  the  settle- 
ment of  this  old  town. 


91 


CONCLUDING  NOTE. 


The  interval  between  the  giving  of  this  Oration,  and  the  printing 
of  it,  arose  from  many  and  complicated  causes ; — the  action  of  the 
several  towns ;  the  great  war  of  Southern  Rebellion ;  the  author's 
removal  to  a  distant  state,  etc.  etc. 

The  work  after  all  the  labor  and  care  spent  on  it,  will  come  short  of 
the  expectations  of  many, — of  none  more  than  of  the  author.  It  is 
really  but  a  thread  drawn  through  our  multiform  town  history  ;  not 
the  history  itself.  A  volume  would  be  filled  with  fragments  of  the 
great  story,  unwillingly  left  behind,  as  I  have  traversed  the  stern 
and  shadowy  realm  of  our  heroic  past.  Who  will  gather  and  pre- 
serve these  precious  traditions  and  fragments  of  record?  Now  they 
are  within  reach.     Soon  they  will  be  gone  past  recovery. 

Rev.  Christopher  M.  Cordley,  sometime  pastor  at  West  Brook- 
field, — now  deceased, — gathered  for  me  a  score  of  pages  of  capital 
traditions, — of  forts  and  roadsj;  and  family  legends  of  the  Gilbert, 
Barnes  and  a  few  other  families.  They  are  a  choice  bundle  of 
local  archaeolgy ;  so  also,  are  some  pages  by  Joel  Jennings,  Esq., 
as  to  Mason's  Kill  and  Forts,  at  Brookfield,  etc.  Also  a  fine 
sketch  of  his  father's  family,  and  extended  notes  of  several  other 
worth}'  households,  from  the  pen  of  the  Hon.  Amasa  Waeker.  A 
few  pages  fCill  of  curiosities  as  to  North  Brookfield's  early  days  and 
ways,  from  Hon.  Freeman  Walker,  betray  him  as  having  a  rare 
aptitude  for,  and  a  store  of  that  rich  legejidary  lore,  which  so  beau- 
tifies and  enriches  history.  A  few  other  scraps,  like  the  Sybil's 
leaves,  growing  costly  as  they  diminish,  await  some  patient  annalist. 
Not  long  will  they  wait. 

It  was  my  hope  and  purpose  to  edit  and  blend  into  this  print, 
these  treasures  from  the  past ;  as  also  notices  of  the  royal  men  and 
families  who  planted  these  towns.  But  that  would  be  forming  a 
volume,  which  was  not  the  service  to  which  I  was  called ;  and,  se- 
lecting some  families,  to  the  neglect  of  others,  would  exi)oso  me  to 


92 

the  complaints  of  sensitive  survivors.  So  these  touching,  precious 
and  instructive  local  traditions,  and  the  family  genealogies,  are  left 
to  some  faithful  lover  of  our  truly  heroic  ancestry. 

The  substantial  historic  frame-work,  I  am  happy  to  think,  -will  be 
found  in  this  Oration, — which,  with  the  reverent  admiration  of  a  child 
toward  a  worthy  parentage,  has  been,  with  much  pains-taking 
drawn  up,  and  is  now  fraternally  presented  to  my  Townsmen  and 
Friends. 

To  those  now  living,  I  give  joyous  salutations  for  the  Times  in 
which  we  live ;  to  those  who  shall  come  after,  I  send  hopeful  assur- 
ances now  enjoyed,  of  a  day  radiant  with  the  glories  of  which  our 
Fathers  saw  only  the  fainter  beams  of  its  dawn.  The  Redeemer 
in  whom  they  trusted  is  strong. 

LYMAN  WHITING. 

Dubuque,  Iowa,  February,  1869. 


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